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and

Strategic Retrenchment
Retrnechment
and Renewal in the
American Experience

Peter Feaver
Editor

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U.S. Army War College Press

STRATEGIC RETRENCHMENT AND RENEWAL

IN THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

Peter Feaver
Editor
August 2014

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ISBN 1-58487-625-5

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CONTENTS
Foreword .................................................................vii
1. Introduction ...........................................................1

Peter Feaver, Jeremi Suri, Francis J. Gavin,

and William Inboden
2. The Political Economy of Retrenchment ............7

Charles Miller
3. Herbert Hoover and the Adjustment to the
Depression ............................................................69

Eleanore Douglas
4. Strategic Calculations in Times of Austerity:
Richard Nixon ....................................................119

Megan Reiss
5. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and the End
(Or Consummation?) of Dtente .....................163

Brian K. Muzas
6. I s it Time for Retrenchment?
The Big Debate on American
Grand Strategy ...................................................221

Ionut C. Popescu
About the Contributors ........................................257

FOREWORD
In recent years, debates over American grand strategy have often focused on the question of whether the
United States should retrench geopolitically or seek
to renew its international leadership.This collection
of essays puts this pressing question in its proper historical and theoretical context. The authors examine
past episodes in which American presidents were
confronted with similar choices, and they probe theoretical and policy debates over retrenchment, renewal,
and their consequences.The result is a volume that
enriches our understanding of how American leaders
have, can, and should respond to the challenges and
opportunities that characterize international relations.
The Strategic Studies Institute is pleased to offer
this collection as a contribution to the ongoing debate
on American grand strategy.


DOUGLAS C. LOVELACE, JR.
Director

Strategic Studies Institute and

U.S. Army War College Press

vii

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Peter Feaver
Jeremi Suri
Francis J. Gavin
William Inboden
American strategic debates are rarely new. They
generally replay inherited conflicts of vision and interpretation in new settings. The consistent, almost
obsessive, focus on enduring dilemmas has led historians like Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., to emphasize the
cycles of American history, especially as they relate
to politics and defense policy.
American policymakers are preoccupied with
one of these cyclical strategic debates today: In times
of economic difficulty, should the United States retrench its international presence, or should it renew
itself abroad? Those who advocate for retrenchment
emphasize the need to reduce military expenditures,
reallocate resources at home, and redefine a more
modest definition of the national interest. Those who
call for renewal claim that the threats to American
prosperity are growing, that reduced expenditures
will invite more threats, and that the United States
has the capacity to expand its military activities and
grow its domestic resources at the same time. Now, as
in the 1870s, the 1920s, the late-1940s, and the 1990s,
Americans confront a familiar choice between reducing inherited international commitments or investing
in new potential sources of international value.
This is, of course, a false choice. The cycles of
American history are potentially harmful because they

encourage comfortable but distorted debates between

polarized positions. The partisan nature of American
society heightens polarization as one political party
embraces a position, and the other feels required to
take the exact opposite side. Electoral politics encourage conflict rather than consensus in American
strategic doctrine, especially during periods of uncertainty and budgetary pressure. The dj vu feel to the
debate introduces other distortions, as participants in
the debate invoke poorly supported lessons of history and short-hand references to previous periods
that strip away the nuance and other insights from
academic research.
The chapters commissioned for this volume aim
to improve the current debate over American grand
strategy. They begin with recognition of the cyclical tendencies in American strategic debates, and an
understanding that policy rarely actually matches
the polarities of public rhetoric. Instead, the chapters
show that politicians are usually strategic synthesizers, seeking areas for overlap and hedging in their
strategies as they simultaneously prepare for new foreign adversaries and cut the costs of their international
commitments. Strategy is less about clarity and choice
than about a creative management of contradictions.
Strategy is always a compromise among alternatives
that appear more irreconcilable in presentation than
in practice.
These observations are especially true for the
historical and contemporary debates surrounding
retrenchment and renewal in American foreign and
defense policy. Since the early-20th century, when the
United States established itself as a major international actor, the country has never chosen exclusively to
retrench or to renew. Each President has sought some

of both. The same is true today. The key question is

how to balance the two and, more specifically, where
to retrench and where to renew. Which commitments
can the United States cut without undue harm? Which
commitments must the United States expand to protect vital interests? The issues of balance and selection
are the issues that motivate the analysis in the forthcoming chapters.
Our goal in commissioning these chapters (initially presented at a workshop at Duke University in
November 2012) was to help policymakers making retrenchment and renewal trade-offs today by clarifying
how policymakers have sought the correct balance in
the past. We commissioned five essays to synthesize
the vast literature, with an eye to creating a single
handy reference for the current debate. The essays
cover several disparate literaturespolitical science,
economics, current policy debates, and the historical
scholarship on three presidential periods most often
invoked in the current debate over retrenchment and
renewal: Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, and Ronald
Reagan. We chose to examine how leaders have conceptualized the trade-offs, and how they have reacted
to moments of apparent crisiswhen the pressures to
reexamine long-standing commitments were particularly strong. Beyond the rhetoric frequently deployed
in public discussions, we sought to bring more rigorous analysis and empirical detail to an assessment of
how policymakers have thought about retrenchment
and renewal at what appear to be key strategic turning points in the last century. In some cases, the essays
show that prevailing conventional wisdom about past
periods differs from what the empirical record shows;
in other cases, the essays identify insights that could
more fruitfully inform the current debate.

Chapter 2, written by Charles Miller, reviews the

vast literature in economics and political science to
provide a framework for understanding how leaders
think about trade-offs between security threats and
economic capabilities. Miller articulates what he calls
the retrenchment dilemma, which is the fear that
reducing foreign commitments will embolden U.S.
adversaries, just as expanding foreign commitments
will undermine domestic order and prosperity. Miller
provides a model for weighing these countervailing
pressures at different moments, and he concludes that
some periods (like today) probably merit serious retrenchment in expensive international commitments.
Eleanore Douglas builds on these insights in her
detailed examination of President Hoovers policies
during the Great Depression. No President faced
greater pressures to retrench than Hoover after the
stock market collapse in October 1929. Of course,
Hoover sought to slash already limited American
military and economic commitments abroad. He did,
however, focus on new mechanisms for renewing
American power at home, according to Douglas. She
argues that the renewal plans in Hoovers program
contributed significantly to the growth of American
power a decade later under a different President.
Megan Reiss examines the controversial presidency of Nixon in a similar light. Reiss reminds readers
how the domestic unrest, rising inflation, and disappointments of the Vietnam War forced Nixon to scale
back traditional American activities abroad. Nixon,
however, turned this pressure for retrenchment into
new opportunities for renewal, according to Reiss.
Nixon opened relations with China, relied on greater
allied assistance abroad (the Nixon Doctrine), and
pursued dtente with the Soviet Unionactions that

increased American power. Nixon renewed American

standing in the world by re-defining American foreign
policy. His great failing, according to Reiss, was an
inability to manage his policies with consistency and
attention to unforeseen consequences.
Brian Muzas compares Nixons successor, Jimmy
Carter, with Reagan. Muzas shows that both Presidents
faced pressures simultaneously to reduce American
commitments and renew containment of an expanding communist threat, especially after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. Muzas also
points to what he calls existential austeritythe
feeling among many Americans in the late-1970s that
the country had lost its confidence and its purpose.
In this troubled environment, Reagan inspired a newfound mission. He painted a roadmap for renewal that
allowed for withdrawal from costly commitments and
a doubling-down on worthwhile strategic endeavors,
especially challenging Soviet power. Reagans strategy worked better than Carters because it matched
elements of retrenchment with promises of renewal
that increased national confidence and capability.
Ionut Popescu extends this analysis into the postCold War world. He cogently outlines the axes of debate between proponents of retrenchment and renewal since 1991. Popescu shows a strong continuity in the
arguments made by different groups. He analyzes the
different trade-offs required by different policy proposals. Popescus chapter makes it clear that current
policymakers cannot accept either retrenchment or
renewal, but must work somewhere in between.
That is the key takeaway from these excellent
chapters. The United States has a cyclical tendency
to follow too much expansion with too much retrenchment, and vice versa. Policymakers often over-

compensate, at least in their rhetoric, for the actions of

their predecessors. Successful policy must avoid this
temptation, as it judiciously mixes opportunities for
cost-saving cuts with continued commitments to extended security for the nation and its diverse interests.
A superpower facing budget difficulties must show
discipline, discernment, and continued determination
to defend its values.

CHAPTER 2
THE POLITICAL ECONOMY
OF RETRENCHMENT
Charles Miller
In 1774, King Louis XVI of France ascended to the
throne of Versailles. While on the surface Europes
most powerful kingdom, France faced a severe financial crisis. Millions of livres were owed to the Kings
creditors, at increasingly onerous interest rates. The
origin of the debt lay in the Seven Years War, but
Louis added to it substantially through French participation in the American Revolutionary War. Eventually, in order to stave off a default, the King called
a meeting of the Estates-General to discuss a new tax
code designed to repair Frances position. Instead of
fixing the problem, however, the recall of the EstatesGeneral set off the chain of events which culminated
in the French Revolution and the deposal and death of
the King (Ferguson 2004).
Britain faced a financial crisis of a similar magnitude 166 years later, which was kept secret from the
public and overshadowed by the concurrent military
crisis. Adolf Hitlers armies had overrun Western Europe and seemed poised to invade Britain itself. In the
corridors of Whitehall, however, a stark fact faced British policymakersBritain was running out of money.
In fact, British credit was so extended that the British were compelled to ask for an emergency soft loan
from the Free Belgian Government to continue to pay
for the supplies of food and military equipment from
the United States which were keeping Britain in the
war. Had Congress not swiftly passed the Lend-Lease

Act, allowing the British to purchase American supplies on soft American loans, the Nazis would have
been able to knock Britain out of the war without a
single German soldier having to set foot on British soil
(Barnett 1986).
Freshest in memory for contemporary observers,
of course, is the case of the Soviet Union. While the
collapse of the Soviet Empire resulted from a number
of factors, one key factor was the simple inability of
the Soviet fiscal state to keep pace with American rearmament (Schultz and Weingast 2003).
Fiscal solvency and economic strength are key prerequisites for a state to be able to pursue all its other
grand strategic goals. States which are not fiscally solvent risk internal collapse (like France and the Soviet
Union) or defeat in war (as Britain nearly did), after
which their ability to pursue grand strategic goals is
greatly reduced. Even if things do not come to such a
dramatic pass, a higher defense burden should, ceteris
paribus, be expected to reduce economic growth in the
long run by diverting investment from the civilian
economy. National wealth being a key component of
power, slower growth should, in turn, reduce a states
strategic freedom of maneuver over time.
Retrenchment is a policy designed to achieve a
number of goals. Some political scientists choose an
expansive definitionMcDonald and Parent, for instance, claim that retrenchment involves pruning
foreign policy liabilities, renouncing existing commitments, defining particular issues as less than
critical, and shifting burdens onto allies (McDonald
and Parent 2011). Retrenchment could also involve
changes to force posture and structurea shift from
counterinsurgency (COIN) or expeditionary force
capabilities toward a conventional defensive posture

(or vice versa), for instance. Retrenchment may even

involve changes in a nations self-conceptionfor
instance, Britains withdrawal East of Suez in the
1970s marked a definitive break with the conception
of Britain as an independent global power. I contend
that many of these actions can, in fact, be reduced to
even simpler aims. States retrench in order to free up
two thingsmoney and leaders time and attention
to address internal political problems. Both are scarce
and critical resources.
At the same time, however, retrenchment is not
without costs. Following World War I, the United
States cut back its military forces dramatically from
wartime levels and withdrew them from Europe
(Layne 2006). At the time, Germany and the nascent
Soviet Union were prostrate, Italy and Japan were
Western Allies, and the British and French had apparently emerged victorious and stronger than ever.
The American decision, therefore, would have struck
many observers at the time to be the correct one to
restore U.S. fiscal solvency. Yet, this was illusory.
German and Soviet weaknesses were transient. Japan and Italy moved away from liberal democracy
toward militaristic fascism. Britains and Frances
power to halt these developments was insufficient
their post-war territorial gains had only temporarily
masked a long-term economic and demographic decline. Readers should not need to be reminded of what
happened next.
After World War II, the United States chose differently. While the U.S. Army was reduced from its
wartime levels, the U.S. military did not revert to its
interwar strength. Moreover, U.S. forces remained in
Western Europe and Northeast Asia to keep the Germans down and the Russians out (Layne 2006). As

we know, of course, there followed the most sustained

period of global peace the world has yet seen (Pinker
2011). Germany and Japan democratized and gradually gained the trust of many of their neighbors. The
Soviet Union was first contained and then finally collapsed of its own contradictions.
The decision over whether or not to retrench is not
an easy one. Retrench too much, and a state may put
its security at risk and, paradoxically, make war more
likely. Retrench too little, by contrast, and a state may
hasten its economic and hence political decline and
waste scarce resources which it may need in the future. In light of this, it is reasonable to expect political
science to provide guidance to policymakers and to
the public on when retrenchment is appropriate. This
chapter is intended to do just that.
This chapter contends that there is no strategy
which is right for all circumstances. Both retrenchment and renewal bring with them costs and benefits. Policymakers asking whether retrenchment
is the correct strategy at a given point in time must
consider two main factorsthe security position and
the fiscal/economic position. As outlined in the following pages, the combination of these two factors
determines whether retrenchment is appropriate.
When the short- to medium-term security threat is
high, renewal is the best option, even if the fiscal/
economic position is weak. Incurring high debt, inflation, and damaging domestic savings are undesirable,
but are preferable to national extinction. By contrast,
the combination of a low security threat and strong
finances is indeterminate, although policymakers
certainly have latitude to retrench if they choose to
do so. However, retrenchment is clearly the best option where the fiscal position is poor, and the secu-

10

rity situation is good. In this case, there is less need to

devote resources to defense and a higher need to repair the states fiscal position. (See Figure 2-1.)
Medium-Term
Security Threat

Strong

Weak

High

Renewal

Low

Renewal/Retrenchment Retrenchment

Renewal

Figure 2-1. Fiscal/Economic Position.

I argue that the current circumstances are those of
a historically benign security situation combined with
grave economic and fiscal difficulties. Consequently,
retrenchment is the best path. If we accept this, however, a second question arisesHow can retrenchment
be done well? What might help or hinder it? Does the
political science or political economy offer creative
solutions which would allow the United States to
retrench without curtailing its global commitments?
The pessimistic conclusion of this chapter is no.
Most of the ways political economists and scientists
suggest for states to cut costs without curtailing commitments have already been tried. If any more easy
wins existed, it would be strange if policymakers had
not already tried them. Consequently, successful retrenchment will have to involve cutting commitments.
WHAT IS THE SECURITY SITUATION?
For political scientists and analysts, retrenchment
can be a dangerous strategy in security terms. International relations theorist Robert Gilpin claimed that
great powers rarely pursue retrenchment because it
signals weakness and thus invites challenges from

11

other powers (Gilpin 1983). Charles Krauthammer

makes a similar but distinct argument. Krauthammer
claims that international relations abhors a vacuum, and that, if the United States were to retrench,
this would tempt other powers to challenge America
militarily. The closer other states approach the United
States in military power, the higher they will rate their
chances of success in a conflict and hence the more
willing they will be to fight (Krauthammer 2009).
Although the two arguments point to the same
conclusion, they derive from distinct viewpoints in international relations. The Krauthammer argument is a
straightforward application of balance of power and
hegemonic stability theory. According to this view, a
preponderance of power by one state such as the United States reduces the probability of conflict. The reasoning is easy enough to follow. No matter how much
rival states may wish to fight the United States over
some issue, they are very unlikely to do so if the United States is so much more powerful than they are. By
contrast, as the margin of American supremacy over
other states narrows, so does the probability that these
states would be able to defeat the United States militarily. Knowing this, they are more likely to challenge
the United States and potentially start fresh wars.
Gilpins argument rests on the importance of signaling and resolve. Dating back to Thomas Schelling,
this school stresses the importance of building and
maintaining reputation in international politics
(Schelling 1960). The signaling school of international
relations often stresses that outward measures of a
states power are less important in determining war
and peace than intangible factors such as a reputation for resolve. In this view, it is pretty well known
how much the United States and other states spend
on defense and how many soldiers, tanks, and aircraft
12

they have. These facts are already priced in and accounted for in state behavior. What is less apparent
is how much states actually care about the main issues of international politics. Slobodan Milosevic, for
instance, would clearly have been foolish to think that
the Yugoslav Army could defeat the United States if
both sides went all out for victory. What Milosevic
was counting on, in this view, is the possibility that
the United States did not care enough about Kosovo to
incur the costs necessary to beat the Serbs.
For the signaling school, it follows from this that
uncertainty over resolve is a key cause of international
conflict. To complicate matters, a U.S. President cannot assuage such concerns simply by stating that the
United States is prepared to bear any burden, undertake any task. Anybody can say they are highly
resolved, especially given that a reputation for resolve
has obvious benefits in terms of getting ones own
way and deterring challengers. The trick is to undertake certain actions which are costly to oneself and
which, therefore, separate genuinely resolved, tough
states from weak states just pretending to be resolved.
This is known in the literature as costly signaling
(Spence 1973).
It is easy to see from here why some believers in
signaling might claim retrenchment is a bad idea.
Keeping up the same level of defense spending and
foreign commitments in the face of an economic decline is, for them, a costly signal that the United States
is genuinely highly resolved to maintain its global
preeminence. Conversely, cutting defense spending in the face of relative decline is a signal of weaknessit reveals some information outsiders did not
know about the Presidents (or the American elites or
the American peoples) true resolve to remain global
top dog.
13

Thus retrenchment could have two malign effects

on the prospects for Americas power position and
global peace and stability. First, rival states (perhaps
China or Russia) will note that the United States has
less material capacity. Second, even more ominously,
they will infer that the United States lacks resolve and
so would not even be prepared to use the full extent of
its remaining capacities, if push came to shove. Both
factors would tempt these rivals to challenge Americas security interests, with potentially disastrous consequences. These two claims have provoked a heated
response from many political scientists.
Empirically, the balance of power argument has
come under a great deal of criticism. Statistical tests of
the proposition that a preponderance of military power in favor of one nation deters conflict have revealed
mixed results (Bennett and Stam 2004). Theoretically,
signaling theorists have claimed that the balance of
power, in terms of observable military capabilities,
simply affects the division of spoils among states
rather than the likelihood of waras states become
weaker, they simply concede more in interstate bargaining rather than fighting (Fearon 1995).
Even if one were to accept the power preponderance argument, however, analysts such as Krauthammer often fail to state just how much relative power is
enough for the United States. The United States currently spends as much on defense as the next 11 states
combined. If the United States spent as much as all
states in the world combined, say twice over, it would
be even less vulnerable to challenge than it currently
isbut would this additional invulnerability actually
be worth the economic costs involved? Conversely,
the United States spent less on defense as a proportion of world spending in the 1990s than it does now

14

even though the United States was even then spoken

of as a hyperpower whose conventional capabilities
dwarfed the rest of the worlds.1 The 1990s were also
an unprecedentedly peaceful era.
Moreover, Krauthammer and others need to specify who the enemies are who will challenge global
peace, if the United States retrenches. Even before
Hitlers rise to power, the potential long-term threat
from Germany was clearEuropes most populous
country, with one of the most advanced economies
and arguably the most efficient Army on the planet,
hosted a strongly revanchist right wing and a fledgling, unstable democracy. Who today could play the
disruptive role in the international system which Germany, Japan, Italy, and the Soviet Union played in the
1930s? The international relations theorist Stephen
Walt points out that a security threat is primarily a
combination of two thingscapabilities and intentions (Walt 1990). Surveying the modern global system, which actors have the combination of capabilities
and intentions to pose a potential threat to the United
States and the liberal world order if the United States
were to retrench? In terms of current military power,
the United States simply dwarfs the rest of the world.
The U.S. share of global military expenditure, as
calculated by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), is shown in Figure 2-2. SIPRI
calculates military spending in international rather
than purchasing power parity dollars, which is the
correct metric, given that this measures a states ability to buy either advanced weapons or the materials to
make them on the global market. By this measure, the
United States spends more on defense than the next
nine powers combined, five times that of the next biggest spender, China, and 10 times that the third big-

15

gest, Russia. Current figures for Iran are not available,

but in the last year in which SIPRI provided data, the
United States outspent Iran on defense more than 84
times over. Of the remaining top 10 spenders in 2011,
four were solid U.S. alliesBritain, France, Japan, and
Germanyand three were at the very least friendly
powersBrazil, India, and Saudi Arabia.2

Others
25.7%

USA
41.0

Brazil 1%
Germany 2.7%
India 2.8%
China
8.2%

Saudi Arabia 2.8%

Japan 3.4%
France
UK 3.6%
Russia 4.1%

Figure 2-2. Shares of World Military Spending

for the Top 10 Spenders, 2011.
What about potential military power? If the
United States retrenched, who might be tempted to
mount a challenge? The European Union (EU) collectively boasts a larger population and economy than
the United States, key sinews of global power. Japan
is also highly developed with a large population,

16

though considerably smaller than the United States.

However, Europe and Japan are American allies and
show little appetite to overturn the global order. The
concern amongst U.S. policymakers is more that the
Europeans and Japanese will not contribute enough
toward maintaining global security, not that they will
actively undermine it.
On the other hand, there are some states whose
goals are thought to be incompatible with the United
States and who are most likely in the near future to
be active military opponents. These are, of course, the
surviving members of the axis of evilIran and
North Korea. However, while these states intentions
may be as malign as those of previous American enemies, their actual and potential capabilities are vastly
inferior. According to the latest World Bank figures,
the United States boasts a population of 311.6 million
people and a gross domestic product (GDP) in international dollars of $15.09 trillion. Iran, by contrast, has
a population of 74.8 million and a GDP of $331 billion,3
while North Korea has 24.45 million people and an estimated GDP of $28 billion.4 To put this in perspective,
Americas population is three times that of Iran and
North Korea combined, while Americas GDP is over
48 times that of Irans and almost 539 times that of
North Koreas. It is very difficult to imagine a scenario
in which North Korea or Iran could even potentially
rival the United States in terms of capabilities, irrespective of whether the U.S. retrenches. This would
require rapid and sustained economic growth in these
countries, something which is unlikely in itself and
even more unlikely without also triggering political
changes which may render these states less hostile to
the United States anyway (such as democratization).

17

Now, the threat from Iran or North Korea could

be regional rather than global. Neither country has
the potential to be the new Nazi Germany or Soviet
Union, but they could cause localized problems for
the United States by, for instance (in the case of Iran),
disrupting Middle Eastern oil supplies, acquiring nuclear weapons, or sponsoring terrorist groups.
While this is a more realistic concern, there are a
number of reasons to doubt that U.S. retrenchment
would spark off a serious Iranian challenge. Cutting
off or restricting oil flows would ultimately also damage the Iranian economy. As the 1973 Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil crisis
showed, while interruptions to global oil supplies
may profit oil-producing nations in the short term
as prices increase, in the long run, it does them little
good as the global economy slows and oil-producing
countries look to conservation and alternative energy
sources (Yergin 1991). A nightmare scenario in which
Iran cuts off Middle Eastern oil supplies or rapidly
raises prices is therefore unlikely precisely because
this would undermine the revenues which help the
Iranian regime stay in power.5
As for the pursuit of nuclear weapons and sponsorship of terrorist organizations, there is a strong
argument to be made that U.S. retrenchment would
make either of these behaviors less likely rather
than more. While the reasons behind Irans pursuit
of nuclear weapons cannot be known with certainty
at this stage, many international relations scholars
have pointed out that fear of a U.S. invasion is one
of them (Waltz 2012; Sagan, Betts, and Waltz 2007).
If Iran wants nuclear weapons to deter an American
attack, then a reduction in Americas ability to attack
Iran through retrenchment would reduce Irans in-

18

centives to acquire them. Irans sponsorship of groups

such as the Mahdi Army or Hezbollah could also be
seen in similar terms. In this view, Irans goal is to use
such organizations to tie down American and Israeli
resources in Iraq and Lebanon, respectively, so that
they cannot be used against Iran itself. Such a strategy
would be similar to that of the United States itself in
sponsoring the Afghan mujahedeen against the Soviets
in the 1980s or of the Allies in sponsoring partisan
campaigns against the Germans in occupied Europe.
If this is correct, then a reduced American military
presence in the Middle East would not embolden Iran,
but rather serve to dampen down its more worrying
behavior (Waltz 2012).
Of those actors with the motive to challenge the
United States, the stateless terror group, al-Qaeda,
is the most clearly malevolent. Yet al-Qaedas capabilities are not commensurate with its ambitions. The
events of September 11, 2001 (9/11) understandably
gave rise to the belief that in modern conflict, nonstate
actors may, in fact, pose greater risks to international
security than traditional states. However, with the
benefit of over 10 years of hindsight now, the weaknesses of nonstate actors have also been revealed.
Unable to mobilize the level of resources that a state
can, even the deadliest nonstate actors are too weak
to inflict damage on the scale of a Nazi Germany or
Soviet Union. As many risk analysts have pointed out,
the risks posed by al-Qaeda to Americans are smaller
than many other more mundane factors which attract
hardly any public attention (Bailey 2011; Mueller and
Stewart 2011). Again, of course, it is hard to estimate
how much these risks might rise for a given level of reduction in U.S. defense spending. How the probability
of future terrorist attacks might respond to changes

19

in U.S. policy is hard to estimate precisely because

terrorist attacks are so rare, giving us little past data
to go by. Nonetheless, even taking the most pessimistic estimates as valid, terrorism still constitutes a less
severe risk to life and limb for the average American
than other risk factors which receive a lower budgetary priority. For instance, Ronald Bailey examined all
the foiled cases of terrorism on U.S. soil since 9/11 as
documented by the Heritage Foundation. Bailey then
supposes that these attacks had succeeded in killing
an average of 100 Americans each and that there had
been another successful 9/11-level attack. Even under these assumptions, the United States would still
have spent approximately 20 times the amount per
life saved on preventing terrorism than on the average Federal protective regulation. This is all the more
striking, given that Bailey does not include the wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan as counterterrorism spending
(Bailey 2011).
So having examined the security situation, there is
a spectrum of capacities and intentions. On the one
hand, there are actors who have the capacity, but not
the motive, to challenge the United States (the Europeans and Japan), and on the other, those who have the
motive, but lack the capacity (rogue states and terrorist organizations). In the middle, however, are the ambiguous casesstates which have, or may in the future have, the capacity to challenge the United States
and whose intentions are unclear. These are Americas
erstwhile Cold War rivals, Russia and China.
Russia is a large middle-income country and hence
has more potential power than Iran or North Korea,
but it also faces severe internal demographic challenges, including falling life expectancy. With a shrinking population, Russia has also experienced falling

20

potential military power. Its improved economic performance under Vladimir Putin is more reflective of a
natural resource boom than of higher productivity or
better quality institutionsthe factors which make for
long-term, sustainable economic growth and provide
a solid foundation for military power. As an indication of this, investment analyst Ruchir Sharma notes
that Russia still ranks 120th out of 183 countries on
the World Banks ease of doing business rankings
(Sharma 2012).
China, rather than Russia, is the most credible candidate to emerge as a peer competitor to the United
States. With a population of 1.344 billion people, the
Chinese outnumber Americans by over four to one.6
As it stands, Chinas economy is almost half the size of
Americas,7 and the gap is famously closing. In terms
of potential power, then, China is the most plausible
future threat. Yet even here, there are a number of unanswered questions. Chinas rulers are alleged to believe that the days when they will be able to challenge
American power lie decades in the future (Friedberg
2011). In the meantime, many things could happen.
For one, Chinas current rapid economic growth
could come to a halt. Many analysts recall that Japan
was once considered to be the rising power poised
to eclipse the United States, not long before Japan
entered a period of prolonged economic stagnation
(Kristof 1997). In the Chinese case, analysts point to
coming demographic problems as the population ages
(Sharma 2012) and also to political interference in the
economy and weak property rights protections (Acemoglu and Robinson 2012) as factors which could
slow or halt Chinas economic rise.
Assume, however, that Chinas economy does continue to grow rapidly. This leads to the possibility that

21

China will transition to democracy. One of the most

solid findings in comparative politics is that wealthier
countries are more likely to be democratic than poorer
ones (although the reasons why are unclear) (Pzeworski et al. 2000). Similarly, one of the most solid findings in international relations is that democracies do
not go to war with one another (although, again, no
one is sure precisely why) (Bennett and Stam 2004). If
Chinas economic rise does continue, one of the likely
consequences of this may be Chinese democratization,
one of the likely consequences of which, in turn, is improved relations with the United States. Consequently, Chinese economic growth may put China into the
same category as Europe and Japanstates with the
capacity, but not the motive, to challenge the United
States. Indeed, this is precisely the hope of American leaders who press for engagement with China
(Friedberg 2011).
However, let us assume that China continues to
rise to a position in which it is capable of challenging
the United States, and it does so while the Communist Party remains in power. What then? The question
now ariseswhat would the Chinese leadership gain
by engaging in security competition, let alone war,
with the United States? After all, few countries have
gained more from the current global system than China. What issues are there which are important enough
to the Chinese to cause them to fight the United States
or American allies such as Japan, risking highly profitable economic ties or even nuclear war?
The answer for China pessimists such as John
Mearsheimer is clear. One need not assume especially
aggressive motives or an expansionist ideology on
the part of China to see why its rise will not be peaceful. Rather, as China rises, it will seek to improve its

22

own security position by establishing hegemony

over East Asia, which will mean ejecting the United
States from the region. The United States, however,
cannot countenance this exclusion because it would
give the Chinese a free hand to begin interfering in
Americas own backyard, the Western hemisphere.
Chinese and American interests over East Asia will
ultimately be irreconcilable, even if both sides are
rational and concerned only with their own security
(Mearsheimer 2005.)
Whether one accepts Mearsheimers pessimism or
not, the sheer size of China makes it the biggest longterm potential security challenge the United States
faces. It is true, as Michael Beckley points out, that
Chinas size alone does not guarantee that it will be
a world power. Beckley points out that 19th century
China was the worlds largest country and economy,
but was politically prostrate and picked over by the
Western powers (Beckley 2011). True as this is, Chinas
disarray in the 19th century was a historical aberration. Would anyone care to bet that, in the future, China will continue to arrange its internal affairs as badly
as it did in the heyday of European imperialism? In
fact, power is the product both of a states population
and how efficiently it mobilizes its national resources,
broadly construed. If efficiency were the only relevant
criterion, Switzerland and Norway would be military
behemoths. Chinas population means that it does not
have to be as efficient as most other countries in order
to be as powerful. To be as powerful as the United
States, for instance, China would only need to be one
fourth as efficient.
Without democratization, moreover, Chinas true
intentions will remain opaque compared to the EU or
Japan. Yet even if the pessimistic view of China is cor-

23

rect, this is a challenge which lies sometime in the future. It is not clear that higher defense spending today,
especially if it comes at the expense of fiscal solvency,
is the correct way to deal with it.
The previous analysis on Americas relative power
position sheds light on whether retrenchment might
signal weakness. The concepts of signaling and resolve have engendered lively controversy in international relations. The premise of the signaling school
was questioned by Darryl Press. Press pointed out
that the signaling theory rests on the idea that reputation is portable from one issue to anotherthat is,
that the Chinese will make inferences about likely U.S.
behavior over Taiwan from its decisions with respect
to Iraq. Yet, Press showed that states tend not to make
such dispositional inferences from other states behavior (Press 2005). Rather, they believe that behavior
over one issue reveals information only about a states
valuation of that particular issue and nothing else.
For instance, Press showed that, contrary to historical
mythology, the only inference which Hitler drew from
the Munich agreement was that Britain and France
did not care about Czechoslovakia, not that they were
generally weak. Hitler did not, so Press claimed,
draw any inferences from Munich about how the British and French would react to an invasion of Poland,
for instance. In Press view, states such as China would
not conclude from U.S. retrenchment that the United
States was weak. They would simply believe that
the United States was trying to save money, something which is rather obvious anyway. Nor would a
withdrawal from, say, Afghanistan, be interpreted as
meaning the United States would be less willing to defend Taiwan.
Yet, Press skeptical view has, in turn, been challenged. Anne Sartori points out that the importance
24

of a reputation for resolve very much depends on

what assumptions one makes about linkages between
issues (Sartori 2012). If, as Press contends, states believe different issues to be entirely unconnected,
then clearly a reputation for resolve is pointless. At
the same time, as Sartori insightfully points out, if issues are too interconnected, then a reputation for resolve is also pointless. Take, for instance, the domino
theory justification for the war in Vietnamthat, by
fighting hard over a relatively unimportant issue like
Vietnam, the United States will gain a reputation for
resolve which will make it less likely that the Soviets
might, for instance, invade Western Europe. The problem, as Sartori points out, is that when one examines
this logic carefully, it can be interpreted as saying the
United States is actually weakit wants to fight a
less costly war in Vietnam in order to avoid fighting
a more costly war in Europe. If the Soviets had actually bought the domino theory, then they would have
drawn precisely the opposite conclusion from Americas war in Vietnam to that which American policymakers wanted to give. The Soviets would not have
concluded that America was so highly resolved that
it would have incurred huge losses even over a comparatively unimportant country as Vietnam. Rather,
they would have perceived America as a weak
actor, using Vietnam as an elaborate bluff to escape
the costs of a full-scale war in Germany.
Sartori, however, goes on to explain that a reputation for resolve is most important when issues are
seen as being moderately connected. If issues are too
strongly connected, then supposedly costly signals are
also interpreted as bluffs. If issues are not connected
at all, then a states behavior over one issue will have
no impact on its interactions with other states over

25

separate issues. Yet, if issues are somewhat but not

entirely connected, then building a reputation for resolve through costly signals is, Sartori claims, useful.
While Sartoris work does go a long way toward
clarifying a conceptually tough issue, it, of course,
leaves open the questionwhat kind of world are we
actually in? To what extent are issues actually linked?
Thus, while the political science literature on signaling has clarified many key issues, it remains frustratingly divided over whether building a reputation for
resolve is something over which the United States
should incur costs.
Yet, in light of the contemporary situation, the concern over resolve is less pertinent. When Schelling laid
the framework of signaling theory in the Cold War,
the material balance between the United States and
the Soviet Union was very even. Consequently, the
difference between victory and defeat for one side or
the other could plausibly come down to which side
was more highly resolved. Yet, Americas conventional superiority since the end of the Cold War has been
so overwhelming that even a lowly resolved America
can prevail over most opponentsthe United States
defeated Yugoslavia over Kosovo and deposed Muammar Gadhafis regime in Libya, for instance, without
suffering a single combat fatality. Resolve is not as
crucial an asset in a unipolar as in a bipolar world.
In short, the security situation in 2012 was very
benign in a historical perspective. There was no Soviet
Union, or a Nazi Germany, even in prospect. There
were actors which wished the United States harm,
such as North Korea and al-Qaeda, but they were not
very powerful. There were actors which were powerful (at least potentially), but they did not wish the
United States harm, such as Europe and Japan. There
were actors which were somewhat powerful and
26

whose intentions were unclear. One of theseRussiahad far less potential power than it appeared at
first glance and will likely have even less in the future.
The otherChinamay have been a threat if several
factors came together at the same time: China continuing to grow without democratizing and its leaders
perceiving a benefit in challenging the United States.
Even if this happens, it is a long-term future challenge,
not one requiring a military buildup today.
Having examined the first question in detail, let us
look at the secondwhat do the fiscal and economic
positions suggest?
WHAT IS THE FISCAL AND ECONOMIC
POSITION?
According to one realist view of international relations expressed by McDonald and Parent, retrenchment results from the structural pressures of the international system (McDonald and Parent 2011). Put
in less abstract terms, this means that states which do
not reduce their defense expenditure when their relative power position worsens run an increased risk of
being selected out of the international system. Why
is this?
Governments who wish to maintain a higher level
of defense spending on a stagnating economic base
may need to borrow more funding. Increased borrowing, however, normally leads to increased interest rates,8 which have numerous baleful consequences
(Furceri and Sousa 2011). First, states which have to
pay more to borrow are less likely to prevail in security competition and war. In the former case, Kenneth Schultz and Barry Weingast demonstrate that
in long-term competition, the lower borrowing costs

27

of 18th-century Britain and the 20th-century United

States helped them to outlast their respective strategic competitors, France and the Soviet Union (Schultz
and Weingast 2003). Recent work by Patrick Shea also
convincingly suggests that higher borrowing costs are
significantly associated with defeat in hot wars as
well as cold security competition (Shea 2014).
A second problem is that interest payments themselves come to take up a substantial share of government spending. This reduces both the amount that
states can spend on defense directly and also reduces
what they can spend on other areas which may in the
long run promote economic growthfor instance,
public infrastructure, research and development,
and education. As the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments shows, interest payments are
already coming to take up a significant share of Federal government spending (Krepinevich, Chinn, and
Harrison 2012).
A third problem is that government borrowing
crowds out private investment (Pass, Lowes, and
Davies 2005). The insight here is that capital is just like
any other goodwhen demand increases, the price
increases too. Government borrowing represents
an increase in demand for capital, meaning that the
price of capital must also rise. In other words, private
corporations must offer higher interest rates to bondholders or higher returns to stockholders in order to
compete with the government for capital. Some companies will, of course, not be capable of doing so and
may go to the wall.
Alternatively, government may seek to maintain
current levels of defense expenditure by increasing
taxes. This, however, is also problematic. One reason
is that higher taxes may reduce incentives for work
and increase those for tax evasionan effect de28

Government Revenue

scribed through the famous and controversial Laffer Curve. The Laffer Curve states that there comes
a point at which further increases in taxation reduce
government revenue through these perverse incentives (Knowles 2010). This is displayed in Figure 2-3
as the point t*. While most economists accept the
principle behind the Laffer Curve, very few believe
that the United States today is at the point at which
increased taxation would reduce government revenue
(Trabant and Uhlig 2006). In fact, the top marginal
rates have been far higher historically at times when
the U.S. economy has grown more quickly than it is
growing todayfor instance in the 1950s (Hungerford
2012). Consequently, it is important not to overstate
this point in discussing retrenchment.

t*

Tax Rate (percent)

100

Figure 2-3. The Laffer Curve (from Knowles 2010).

More compellingly, higher taxation to fund defense can reduce economic growth in the long term

29

because of the diversion of funds from private and

public civilian investment, as noted by Robert Pape
(Pape 2009). One tax dollar spent on defense is a tax
dollar not spent on education, civilian research and
development (R&D), or transport. One dollar taken by
the Federal government in taxation is no longer available for private investors to sink into a new Google or
Microsoft. Now, of course, it has often been pointed
out that defense R&D investment has numerous positive spin-offs for the civilian economy, of which the
Internet is the most obvious. However, this argument
runs into the objectionif the U.S. Government wants
to sponsor R&D in the private civilian sector, would it
not be more efficient to do so directly rather than as an
unintended consequence of defense spending?
A final option open to governments in the face of
reduced resources is to maintain defense spending
by cutting other types of public expenditure. In some
cases, as noted previously, this may lead to lower economic growth and hence fewer resources to spend on
defense in the long run. Arguably, education, R&D,
and transport expenditure fall into this category, although, the precise amount of future growth one gets
per dollar spent in these areas is disputable. Other
forms of government expenditure, such as Medicare
or Social Security, do not contribute quite so obviously
to future economic growth and hence national power.
Such expenditures also make up a very substantial
proportion of the Federal budget. Whether the United
States should choose to prioritize defense ahead of
other public policy objectives is, however, beyond the
scope of this review.
In light of this, then, the surprising fact in the
political economy of defense literature is that there
is little clear evidence that increased defense spend-

30

ing really does reduce growth. Emile Benoit, the first

economist to examine the question empirically, came
to the conclusion that defense spending increases economic growth (Benoit 1973, 1978). However, others
have criticized Benoits methodology and grounding
in economic theory (Ram 1995). It should be noted
that increased economic growth can lead to increased
defense spending, which can lead analysts to conclude erroneously that the causal relationship goes
in the opposite direction. Ward and Davis, analyzing
data from the United States between 1948 and 1996
and using a model taking into account the positive
spillover effects from defense expenditure on civilian economy, concluded that defense spending does
lower economic growth significantly (Ward and Davis
1992). However, as Rati Ram notes in his review of the
copious literature on the subject, economists have produced different results on the subject, depending on
which countries they examine, which years, and how
their models are specified. In approximately equal
numbers, they have concluded that defense spending
increases economic growth, that it lowers economic
growth, and that it makes no difference (Ram 1995).
Other than providing fodder for the old joke that if
you put two economists in a room, you will get three
opinions, what are we to make of this? For the reasons
outlined previously, it seems quite likely that defense
expenditure should lower growth, so why is the evidence so inconclusive? If there is no strong evidence
that defense spending lowers growth, is the whole
premise behind retrenchment wrong? Can we simply
spend as much as we like on defense without worrying about the economic consequences?
Here an analogy with another economic finding
may be in order. Economists in the 1950s discovered
an inverse relationship between inflation and unem31

ployment. That is, when unemployment goes up,

inflation goes down, and vice versa. Policymakers
drew the conclusion from this correlation that it was
possible to trade off unemployment and inflation
against each other. The problem was that the relationship only held when individuals were not aware of
it and did not consciously try to take advantage of it.
When policymakers announced that they were happy
to allow inflation to increase in order to combat unemployment, employees demanded higher wages to
compensate, which increased prices, which increased
inflation further in a vicious cycle. By ignoring the
fact that relationships between variables in economics
are the result of individuals conscious choices, policymakers ended up getting higher inflation without
lower unemployment (Carlin and Soskice 2006).
Similarly, when examining the weak relationship
between defense spending and economic growth, it
must be remembered that most policymakers have believed that excessive defense spending lowers growth
and so can be expected to take care not to increase it
beyond levels which they think the economy can bear.
Where they have been compelled to increase defense
expenditure in spite of a sluggish economy, they may
have taken care to reduce other forms of government
spending to keep the tax burden and budget deficit
under control. In short, we may see little evidence that
defense spending hurts economic growth precisely
because few policymakers have been foolish enough
to risk the health of their economies by overspending
on security. This leads to a paradoxical conclusion. If
policymakers were naively to read from Benoit and
Ram and begin spending freely on guns and bombs,
we may actually start seeing strong evidence for the
first time of a negative effect of defense expenditure

32

on growth! In short, the surprising lack of evidence

of a negative effect of defense spending on economic
growth should not lead us to conclude that retrenchment is unnecessary. Rather, retrenchment is necessary when a state faces deficit and debt problems. In
the long run, states need to align revenue and spending. If they do not, they will face higher interest rates
and/or higher taxes, which will divert investment
from the productive sectors of the economy that are
the wellspring of national power.
While the international security situation provides
the United States with a great deal of room for maneuver, this can hardly be said of the fiscal and economic
situation. According to the Congressional Budget Office, if current trends in taxes and spending continue,
public debt will reach 101 percent of GDP by 2021
and 187 percent by 2035. As Krepinevich, Chinn, and
Harrison report, this could seriously jeopardize the
U.S. ability to borrow, even in a national emergency. Krepinevich, Chinn, and Harrison quote Erskine
Bowles, Co-Chair of President Obamas deficit commission, as saying that the national debt is a cancer
which will destroy the nation from within. The
debt problem will be all the more serious as the baby
boomer generation retires and begins drawing benefits, changing Americas worker to retiree ratio from
the current 3.2 to 2.1 by 2035 (Krepinevich, Chinn, and
Harrison 2012).
Defense spending is not the only contributing factor toward fiscal problems, of course, but it is a major
one. As Krepinevich, Chinn, and Harrison note, increases in defense spending account for 16 percent of
Americas shift from surplus to deficit over the 2000s,
compared with 4 percent for increases in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Defense is a smaller

33

contributor to the current fiscal crisis than revenue

shortfalls, but in accounting for nearly one-fifth of
the change, it is scarcely insignificant (Krepinevich,
Chinn, and Harrison 2012). In the absence of a pressing military threat, therefore, defense spending has to
bear part of the burden of adjustment.
This then raises the questionif retrenchment is
the way ahead, how best can it be done? What are the
factors which make it more or less likely to work well?
Can efficiencies be found allowing defense spending
to be reduced without reducing commitments?
HOW TO DO RETRENCHMENT
The political science and political economy literature reveals a number of principles which can help to
guide successful retrenchment. The problem is that,
of these principles, many are already being enacted.
Consequently, it will be very difficult to maintain all
U.S. current commitments under retrenchment. Some
will have to be deemed lower priority. The first principle is what defense economist Keith Hartley called
substitution (Hartley 2011). As this principle has a
number of different applications, it will receive the
most prolonged attention. The intuition is to examine
all the goals of security policy and determine whether,
for each goal, there is a cheaper way of achieving the
same effect. In the civilian economy, an example of
substitution would be if the price of driving were to
increase but the price of public transport remained the
same, more individuals would choose to get to work
by bus or train than by car.
The second principle, outlined by the Center for
Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, is that of cost
imposition. Here, the idea is to arrange your defense

34

spending so as to force your adversaries to compete in

areas which cost them relatively more than they cost
you (Krepinevich, Chinn, and Harrison 2012). A few
examples to follow will help to make this clear.
The third principle is to remember that sunk costs
are sunk. The economic principle of sunk costs suggests that individuals should consider only future
costs and benefits when deciding on a course of actionrecouping past investments should not figure in
the costs (Arkes and Blumer 1985). This is a prescriptive-logical principle of how people should behave,
not an empirical claim about how people do behave.
There is both experimental and archival evidence that
citizens and policymakers do not treat sunk costs as
sunkyet, this does not mean that they are right to
do so. Identifying common cognitive errors in decisionmaking still serves a useful purpose in advancing
better public policy.
The final principle is probably the most important,
and so will be left to the Conclusion. This is the principle that Hartley refers to as the principle of final outputs (Hartley 2011). I will discuss this principle more
in the subsequent pages. The principle of final outputs
simply boils down to this, howeverit is very hard
to determine how best to retrench without answering
fundamental questions about what defense expenditure is ultimately for.
Substitution.
Substitution in defense policy could play out in a
number of ways. The first and most obvious is through
external alliances (Trubowitz 2011). Instead of the
United States spending money to balance against China, persuade Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Viet-

35

nam to do it instead. If there is instability in former

European colonies in the Middle East, have the British and French take care of it. In fact, some political
scientists such as Stephen Walt argue that should the
United States cut defense spending, it will compel allies to do more. This logic dates back to Mancur Olson
and Richard Zeckhausers Economic Theory of Alliances,
which claimed that American allies under-contribute
toward defense because they believe the United States
will take care of the responsibility for them (Olson and
Zeckhauser 1966). It follows that, if the United States
were to signal an intention to reduce its defense spending, Americas Asian and European allies would have
to step into the breach. This, according to Walt, would
represent a win-win for the United Statessecurity is
still provided, but the United States does not have to
pay quite so much for it (Walt 2012).
While logically appealing, there are certain drawbacks to this position. First, Americas allies may also
be in decline or straightened economic circumstances.
Today, this is especially the case in Europe. Second,
Americas allies may not be capable of providing the
necessary level of security by themselves. In World
War II, the United States first intended simply to supply the British who, it was hoped, could deal with the
actual fighting against Nazi Germany. Britain, however, was simply not strong enough to do so (Barnett
1986). Similarly, in the early Cold War, the United
States first intended to leave European security primarily to Europeans, but again found that they were
not strong enough alone to stand against the Soviet
Union (Ferguson 2004). Thus, while there is a great
deal of sense in increasing dependence on allies, the
process can only be taken so far.

36

A second form of substitution is also potentially

controversial. This involves the use of private military
companies instead of regular military. Here, the United States has already taken the practice as far as it can.
In theory, the use of private military companies could
cut costs significantly for a number of reasons. First, as
with any service, competition among a number of providers would be expected to stimulate greater effort
and provide strong incentives to reduce costs. Second,
for a number of military functions which have civilian
analogues such as engineering, logistics and maintenance, private companies might be thought to have
a comparative advantage over a government agency
because they are obliged to compete and survive in
the marketplace. Third, the greater specificity of the
contract between the Department of Defense (DoD)
and a private contractor relative to a soldier might be
thought to reduce costly shirking. This is because
there are more clear redlines on what constitutes a
violation of the contract and hence less ambiguity for
a potential shirker to exploit.
In light of this, it might be instructive to pose a
provocative thought experimentwhy not use private contractors for all military functions? Would this
not achieve security goals at a greatly reduced cost?
The political science and political economy literature
suggests that the answer to this question is unambiguously no. There are many good reasons why private
contracting in defense policy can only go so far.
The first follows from the nature of the private
military market. This market is, in fact, similar to the
armaments industry, whose dynamics were well-described by William Rogerson. American armaments
manufacturers are in the position of producing products for essentially one buyerthe U.S. Government

37

and whichever foreign powers to whom the U.S. Government allows arms makers to sell (Rogerson 1995).
This situation is known in economics as a monopsony. Similarly, the U.S. Government is unlikely to
be happy if XE or Control Risks is selling military services to Russia, China, or Iran. This dependence on
one buyer makes both the armaments and the private
military industry vulnerable. If the U.S. Government
does not buy their services, they have few other profitable outlets. If the U.S. Government does not provide
some kind of security, a retainer, for companies
which do not win the current contract, they would
normally exit the market and leave the winner of the
contract with a de facto monopoly. Yet, it would be
prohibitively expensive for the United States to pay
for the upkeep of three or four private armies, each
with their own training, recruitment, and promotion
systems and legacy costs. Consequently, if the United
States did contract out all fighting services to private military companies, it would most likely very
quickly replace the current public monopoly with a
private one. More seriously, there would be more insidious dangers in contracting out fighting services
to private military companies.
At present, service in the U.S. military is unquestionably regarded as more than an economic transaction. Soldiers rightly enjoy very high levels of public
esteem. Young boys dream of becoming soldiers, not
actuaries. Marines in uniform boarding civilian aircraft are given rounds of applause. Investment bankers and personal injury lawyers are not.
Soldiers often earn less than comparably qualified individuals in civilian life in part because they
are paid in honor and esteem. A brilliant essay by
economic philosopher Geoffrey Brennan suggests that

38

this is how it should be (Brennan 1996). Professions

such as the military which receive relatively more
esteem and honor will attract individuals who value
honor and esteem more than money. Professions such
as personal injury law which receive relatively more
money and less esteem will attract individuals who
value money more than esteem. For the military, this
is the best outcomeindividuals who care more about
esteem and honor than money can be trusted to stand
and fight where naked self-interest might suggest running. They will also be less corruptible and less prone
to abusing civilians.
The danger with excessive use of private military
companies is that it may replace the honor and esteem
on which the military profession is founded with a
purely economic transaction and so end up attracting
the wrong types into service. Consider, for instance,
the connotations of the term mercenary relative to
that of soldier. Consider also the widespread complaints among professional soldiers about the attitude
and behavior of military contractors, especially toward
Iraqi civilians. In short, military contractors are not a
great substitute for professional soldiers. For support
functions, they may help to reduce costs, but there are
sound political, scientific, and economic reasons why
combat should remain a state monopoly.
A less controversial means of applying substitution to the military is through increased use of reservists. This is a large part of the British Governments
defense plans (Hartley 2011). Reservists are obviously
less costly as they are not full-time soldiers, but at the
same time, they do not have the same experience or
incentive to perform, given that the military is not
their only or primary career. Reservists make the most
sense in branches of the service which policymakers

39

expect to use only infrequently. Again, however, increased use of the National Guard is already a part of
U.S. defense adjustment.
A final way in which substitution can be applied to
defense is, ironically, by reducing reliance on military
means to achieve political ends. Diplomacy, espionage, and subversion are three potential alternatives
(Trubowitz 2011). For instance, since 9/11, the military
has been a significant component of the war on terrorism. The theory is that by building capable, stable
states in the Islamic world, the military can drain the
swamp and deny terrorists a safe haven from which
to launch attacks on the United States (Kilcullen 2004).
Part of the problem, however, is that terrorists can
substitute, too. If Afghanistan is denied to them as a
safe haven, then they may move to the Tribal Areas of
Pakistan. If the costs of using these areas becomes
too high, they may then move to Yemen, Mali, or the
southern Philippines (Rose 2009).
This raises the questionis a dollar spent on
global COIN the cheapest way to achieve a given
reduction in the risk of a terrorist attack on the United
States? Are there cheaper ways to achieve the same
effect? Part of the appeal of the drone war for its advocates is the potential they see in it for getting a greater
bang in terms of threat reduction for a vastly reduced
buck, relative to COIN. The counter to this view is
that successful drone attacks depend upon good intelligence, which in turn requires boots on the ground,
both to gather this intelligence and to protect informers (Biddle 2009).
Drone strikes are also problematic for the issue of
civilian casualties. Although administration figures
dispute the proposition that drone strikes cause more
civilian deaths than COIN operations, it is at the very

40

least plausible that missiles fired from a distance make

accidental deaths more likely (Cavallaro, Sonnenberg,
and Knuckley 2012). If civilian deaths cause increased
radicalization and hence recruitment into terrorist organizations, they may, in fact, prove counterproductive (Brooks 2012).
Political economists generally tend not to make
ethical judgments themselves (Sen 1970). This does
not mean to say that political economists do not believe in ethical judgments, but that it is not the domain
of their subject. Questions such as how one trades off
the lives of soldiers versus civilians, or civilian casualties from drone strikes versus civilian casualties
from terrorism, are thought to be more the domain of
moral philosophy and political theory. Nonetheless, it
would not be impossible to include the risk to civilians
as an explicit cost factor in the cost-benefit analysis of
terrorism. As we shall see, welfare economics does so
frequently with respect to other areas of public policy
(Stern 2006).
Alternatively, it may be that cutting terrorists off
at the source is not the most effective place in the terrorist production line to intervene. The basic errors
in security procedures in the State Department and
intelligence agencies identified by the 9/11 Commission suggests that a dollar spent in law enforcement, border security, and espionage may have a
bigger marginal effect in terms of risk reduction than
military intervention overseas (9/11 Commission
Report 2006).
The question, of course, is whether, given the
amount already spent on Homeland Security since
9/11, more spending here will have much of an impact either (Mueller 2006; Mueller and Stewart 2011).
As the risk analyst Howard Kunreuther pointed out,

41

counterterrorism expenditure of any kind is paying

for small reductions in probabilities that are already
extremely low (Kunreuther 2002).
In short, the process of substituting law enforcement, diplomacy, and espionage for COIN is already
underway. Consequently, many of the savings it
promises have already been realized. Moreover, given that the baseline risk of terrorism is already low,
any counterterrorism spending can only buy a tiny
additional reduction.
Cost Imposition.
Krepinevich, Chinn, and Harrison note a clever
means used by great powers in the past to get more
value for their defense dollars (Krepinevich, Chinn,
and Harrison 2012). This refers to a strategy of asymmetric cost imposition. In this strategy, states concentrate their spending on areas in which their principal
adversary is at a comparative disadvantage. By comparative disadvantage, I mean that ones adversary
must spend more proportionately simply in order to
maintain parity.
There are two particularly striking instances of
this. The first is the British dreadnought program of
the pre-World War I era. German ships had to leave
port via the Kiel Canal, and, in order to maintain parity with the British, the Germans not only had to spend
to build more dreadnoughts, they also had to spend
on widening the Kiel Canal to allow dreadnoughtsized vessels to pass through. Consequently, a given
dreadnought cost the Germans more proportionately
than the British. Similarly, the U.S. decision to pursue
stealth bomber technologies imposed an asymmetric
burden on the Soviet Union. With one of the worlds

42

longest borders, the Soviets were compelled to spend

large amounts on anti-aircraft defense, further weakening the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
fiscal position.
Krepinevich, Chinn, and Harrison note that the
United States is not publicly committed to asymmetric
cost imposition on anyone (Krepinevich, Chinn, and
Harrison 2012). In many ways, this is understandable.
It may not be diplomatically astute to state explicitly
that the United States is spending on a particular project in order to impose asymmetric costs on Russia or
China. Nonetheless, in the competitive realm of international relations, states often look to exploit others
vulnerability, even if they do not make a song and
dance out of doing so. The Chinese are not investing
in anti-access, area denial capabilities in order to combat Uighur separatists (Friedberg 2011). Consequently, it would not contravene Marquis of Queensberry
rules for American strategists to examine discreetly
where they might compel China to compete in areas of
comparative disadvantage. For one thing, it should be
noted that the United States is still far ahead of most
potential rivals in terms of high technology equipment. In spite of hype to the contrary, China, and even
more so Russia, are simply not as innovative as the
United States on the production frontier of the world
economy. Very high technology would therefore seem
to be one area in which the United States would be
competing at a comparative advantage.
As for the threat from nonstate actors such as alQaeda, asymmetric cost imposition appears to have
been little explored. Previous literature mostly concerns how al-Qaeda has been able to pursue such a
strategy against the United States through measures
such as suicide bombing and improvised explosive de-

43

vices. Yet this does not mean that this strategy cannot
also be wielded against al-Qaeda by the United States.
If we conceive of terrorism as a production line running from recruitment all the way to the completion of
an attack, there must be some points which are costlier to the terrorist group than others. Is training the
costliest part of the line, or is it infiltration into the target zone? If careful research into terrorist finance can
provide consistent information on this, then strategies
can be devised to compel terrorist groups to concentrate more time and effort on the most expensive part
of their operations.
Sunk Costs are Sunk.
Behavioral economists are well known for a number of discoveries casting doubt on the rational actor
model of the social sciences. One of their earliest findings concerned an intriguing facet of decisionmakingwhen deciding on a course of action, we tend to
take into account not just future costs and benefits, but
those costs which we have already incurred. The sunk
costs fallacy should not be confused with simply sticking with a course of action in which one has incurred
costsif the expected benefits of this course of action
still exceed the costs, sticking with it is entirely rational. The fallacy is when unfavorable new information
arises about the costs of the course of action (or favorable information about the benefits of some alternative) of which the decisionmaker was not aware when
making the initial decision and the decisionmaker
sticks with the initial decision anyway.
Daniel Kahnemann gives a good example of the
sunk costs fallacy in operation. Suppose a company
has spent $50 million on a given project when it finds

44

out that it will need an additional $60 million which

was not originally budgeted to complete it. At the
same time, however, a different project would also require $60 million but would provide a higher return.
The sunk costs fallacy would be to invest the $60 million in the pre-existing project, even though the expected return is lower, because one believes that in
doing so one has recovered ones initial investment
(Kahnemann 2011).
Political scientists and business analysts have detected traces of the sunk costs fallacy in numerous political and commercial decisions. Large-scale capital
projects are especially prone to the sunk costs fallacy. The British and French Governments are known
to have persevered with the construction of the supersonic Concorde jet in spite of mounting doubts about
its commercial viability because of the money they
had already invested in it (Arkes and Ayton 1999). Yet
sunk costs do not refer only to money. Jeffrey Taliaferro explains both the French and the American decisions to stay in Vietnam after the prospects for success had diminished with reference to the sunk costs
fallacy (Taliaferro 2004). Both sets of policymakers, in
Taliaferros view, believed that they had to stay the
course in Vietnam in order to ensure that the blood
and treasure which they had already expended there
would not have been in vain.
Sunk costs reasoning cannot necessarily tell policymakers whether they should continue with a given
project. Yet, it can offer useful guidance on the decisionmaking process itself. The guidance is thiscosts,
whether human or financial, which have already been
incurred, should not factor as future benefits into decisionmaking about various courses of action. In examining what to do about a given project, policymakers

45

should engage in the following thought experiment

if somehow we had arrived at the position we are in
without the United States having expended anything
on the project so far, would the current and future
benefits outweigh the current and future costs?
Of course, ignoring sunk costs might be rational
from the point of view of the state, but irrational from
the point of view of an individual leader. To return
to Kahnemans example, the executive who gave the
green light to the $50 million project may have strong
incentives to bring it to fruition so as not to appear
incompetent. There is indeed experimental evidence
to back this upMichael Tomz, for instance, shows
that voters reacted negatively to political leaders who
initiated U.S. involvement in a crisis and then subsequently backed down (Tomz 2007).
Where this situation arises, the interests of the political leadership and the country as a whole have diverged. Even if the cost overrun was not due to incompetence on the part of the leader, it may be time for
him or her to be replaced. Indeed, in the business case,
Kahnemann explicitly recommends that the Board of
Directors take action to remove chief executive officers
who are personally invested in failing projects (Kahnemann 2011). A new leader is less likely to have the
same attachment to the previous project and also less
likely to face electoral punishment for abandoning it.
Indeed, if the new leader was publicly opposed to the
project from the start, he would be more likely to face
electoral punishment for inconsistency if he did not
abandon it.
Moreover, where the sunk costs are financial
rather than human (that is, they refer to the development of new weapons projects rather than military
operations), there is evidence that political leaders can

46

treat sunk costs as sunk without fear of negative consequences. This is especially the case if the leaders in
question can frame the issue as one of getting value
for money for the taxpayers against special interests.
Robert Gates, for instance, is one of the most popular
and respected U.S. Defense Secretaries, in spite of, in
the words of Lexington Institutes Loren Thompson,
prevailing on every major program kill he chose to
pursue.9 Perhaps, however, the causal relationship
runs in the opposite directionGates was willing
and able to kill more programs precisely because he
already commanded so much respect across the political spectrum. This question calls for additional research to determine whether financial sunk costs are
more readily ignorable than human ones.
Yet the idea that sunk costs really are a fallacy has
not been without its critics. McAffee, Mialon, and Mialon (2010) point out that there are many reasons why
rational decisionmakers may choose to incorporate
sunk costs into their calculations. Here I will outline
those which are most relevant to national security
policy. The first is that past investments may have a
cumulative effect on the probability of a given project succeeding (McAffee, Mialon, and Mialon 2010).
Many projects in national security may be of this
typeeconomic sanctions or COIN could fall into this
category, for instance. Perhaps the hearts and minds
projects already paid for are about to turn into a flood
of tip-offs about the whereabouts of insurgent leaders,
turning the tide of the campaign. Perhaps the target
of the sanctions is teetering on the verge of economic
ruin and getting ready to throw in the towel. It is quite
conceivable that all the past costs a policymaker has
incurred are about to break the back of the problem, and that turning away at this stage would be to
snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Properly con47

sidered, however, this line of argument is not too different from the standard rational actor prescription.
If success requires just one more push, then the net
future benefits of a course of action will exceed the
net costs. The only difference is that sunk costs factor
into the cost-benefit calculation through their effect
on the probability of success rather than as a standalone benefit.
Second, there may be reputational consequences
to ignoring sunk costs which transcend the costs and
benefits of the specific issue at hand. Acquiring and
maintaining a reputation for sticking with projects
which have run into difficulty may induce others to
cooperate with you. Many projects require investments of time and effort by multiple partners to succeed. If one partner has a reputation for abandoning
projects as soon as the numbers no longer stack up,
then others may be reluctant to commit their own resources to working alongside them (McAffee, Mialon
and Mialon 2010).
These are important qualifications in applying
sunk costs reasoning to decisionmaking. By refining and clarifying the issue of sunk costs, they help
decisionmakers to ask themselves the right kinds of
questions in examining ongoing projects. Such questions might include, Do I really think that one more
push will solve this problem, or am I simply trying to
recoup my past investment? How are potential allies
judging my persistence in this project? A further objection may also be raisedif sunk costs reasoning really
is deeply rooted in human psychology, is it realistic to
make policy recommendations based on individuals
ignoring sunk costs? The United States may be able
to cut spending on air transportation if soldiers were
able to grow wings and fly, but this obviously is not
going to happen.
48

Fortunately, there is evidence that making individuals aware of common heuristic errors can serve
to change their behavior. Kahnemann points out that
graduate students in economics and business who are
taught about the sunk costs fallacy are significantly
more likely to walk away from failing projects (Kahnemann 2011). Increasing knowledge of the faulty
heuristics of baseball scouts led to the sabermetric
revolution dramatized in the book and movie, Moneyball. Starting with the Oakland As, baseball teams
came to recognize the value of data analysis as opposed to gut feel in selecting players (Lewis 2003).
Similarly, the hope is that increasing awareness of
the sunk costs fallacy, with the caveats mentioned
previously, can help to sharpen the thinking not only
of policymakers themselves but of their audience
the public and media who hold them accountable.
In short, then, the existing political science and political economy literature offers some interesting suggestions about how retrenchment can be done well.
Before moving on to the final and perhaps the most
important recommendation, let us first examine a few
notes of caution from the literature on retrenchment.
A different school of thought on retrenchment
disagrees with the likes of Krauthammer and Gilpin
on the desirability of retrenchment, but believes that
it is likely to be hijacked by domestic interests. These
scholars take their cue from the public choice school
of political economy. Public choice was a reaction
against an implicit view which political scientists and
economists had taken of their role in political life
whispering in the ear of the sovereign. In other
words, social scientists had believed that there was
one unitary individual called the state who wanted
the best for its inhabitants, and the role of the social

49

scientist was simply to find out what was the best

policy so that this benevolent social planner could
enact it (Buchanan 1972). This assumption was almost precisely analogous to the unitary actor view of
the state in realist international relations theory. The
problem, as public choice theorists realized, is that the
state is not a unitary actor but rather a collection of
individuals and groups who each may have interests
contrary to that of the state as a whole (Snyder 1991;
Trubowitz 1998; Narizny 2007). It may, for instance,
be the case that the United States would do better
to cut programs X and Y and spare program Z, but
perhaps programs X and Y have more lobbying power
or have struck a deal to join forces to shift the costs of
retrenchment onto program Z.
It is not hard to see numerous examples of such
problems in the contemporary United States. Congressmen fight to maintain military bases in their districts, even if these make little sense from the point of
view of overall national defense. Political leaders come
to power through the support of domestic constituencies which may or may not favor increased spending
on national defense (Trubowitz 2011). Defense firms
make campaign contributions to candidates from
both parties to protect their contracts. Even the military itself can act as a lobbyservice branches possess
numerous strategies, such as off the record briefings,
which they can use to punish politicians who propose
scrapping favored projects (Rogerson 1995).
The latter problem can be seen as a special case of a
more general issue in public choicethe expert problem. An expert problem is where a customer requires expert information about how much of a given
product or service to buy, but the expert in question
stands to gain financially from the purchase. Think for

50

instance of a dentist or a car mechanicthe average

customer knows less than the mechanic or the dentist
about what work needs to be done and, knowing this,
the dentist or mechanic can gain by recommending
more work than the customer actually needs (French
1986). Such expert problems are seen by some political scientists as plaguing security and defense spending. Military officers obviously know better than most
civilians what their service branch needs in terms of
technology, but at the same time they may wish to
have more equipment than the United States taken
as a whole really needs. This need not necessarily reflect any private, personal gain they may get from the
purchase by DoD of military equipment, but simply
an intrinsic desire to have the most up to date, technically advanced equipment regardless of whether it
is needed. Given the high levels of respect which the
U.S. public has for military officers, expert problems
in this particular area could be especially acute. John
Mueller believes that expert problems are especially
common in the intelligence and counterterror community (Mueller 2006).
So although expert problems and political logrolling are likely to arise and complicate efforts to secure
successful retrenchment, what does the political science and political economy literature say about when
they are likely to be most acute and what can be done
about them? First, political scientists and economists
are skeptical about appeals to political will among
policymakers and the watchfulness of a well-informed citizenry (Eisenhower 1961). Daniel Drezner
has written that asking politicians to display political
will is to ask them to stop being politicians (Drezner
2011). Suppose a political leader does arise who champions the national interest and displays political will

51

in standing up to special interestspolitical scientists

would claim it is likely he will simply be defeated and
removed from office by someone less scrupulous. The
well-informed citizenry concept is also problematic
as pointed out by political scientists going back to
Mancur Olson, individual citizens are at a disadvantage relative to special interests because any one particular issue is worth less to them than it is to the interest group (Olson 1982). Consequently, it is the interest
group as a whole which is more likely to get organized
and get what it wants. In fact, political scientists are
concluding that even becoming well-informed about
the issues is too costly for the average voter. The average voter has a close to zero chance of determining the
outcome of an election, so it is in his or her self-interest
to devote his or her time to getting on with his or her
own job, rather than absorbing a great deal of information about differing candidates political positionsa
stance termed rational ignorance by political scientist Anthony Downs (Downs 1957). Only individuals
who derive some extra-rational intrinsic pleasure in
learning about politics for its own sake actually will
choose to do so.
Conversely, some political scientists believe that
the structural pressures of the international system
will eventually give such strong incentives to domestic interest groups to cooperate that they will be able
to agree on a program of successful retrenchment. In
this view, domestic disagreement only comes into play
when there is little external pressure for the state to act
in a unitary manner (McDonald and Parent 2011).
Unfortunately, this may be resting on an overly
optimistic reading of realism. While realism is a very
large tent incorporating many points of view, one of
its most theoretically compelling strands suggests

52

that it works through a process of selective adaptation similar to that of Darwinian evolution. In other
words, realism does not suggest that any individual
state will sort out its domestic difficulties when it
comes under pressure from the international system.
Rather, it claims that those which, for whatever reason, put aside their domestic difficulties will survive,
and those which do not, will not (Feaver 2000). The
latter claim is much less reassuring than the former.
Peter Trubowitz points out that there is a further
micro-foundation for realismpolitical leaders do not
want their states to be bested in international competition as this in itself will hinder their prospects for political survival (Trubowitz 2011). Nonetheless, it is less
clear that a failure in the long term to retrench would
have the same consequencein fact, quite the opposite. A political leader could, for instance, increase defense spending through borrowing in the short term
to triumph in international conflict and then pass the
costs on to his or her successor. In short, the pressures
of the international system cannot be relied upon
themselves to produce successful retrenchment. As
Trubowitz himself notes, domestic factors are also key
(Trubowitz 2011).
Which domestic structural factors, then, might
push the United States toward successful retrenchment
and which would push it away? Let us start with the
negative side of the ledger. Hendryk Spruyt suggests
that a political system with a large number of veto
points might have difficulty pursuing successful retrenchment. This means that a political system which
puts power in the hands of many different groups
who can hold up decisionmaking will find it harder
to divest itself from unwieldy foreign commitments.
Spruyt contrasts the protracted and difficult process

53

of decolonization by France and the Netherlands with

the more painless British transition. As the French and
Dutch political systems had many veto players from
different partiesindividuals who can put a stop on
political decisionsthey came to be held hostage by
colonial lobbies who wished to hold on to imperial
possessions long after France and Holland had lost
the power necessary to do so. By contrast, the British system centralizes power around the Prime Minister and his cabinet. Party discipline is very strong.
Consequently, as soon as the British Government had
decided that the Empire was a strategic liability, they
were able to divest themselves of it relatively quickly
(Spruyt 2005). Of course, the United States does not
have a colonial empire from which to extricate itself.
However, the U.S. political system, with the division
of power among legislative and executive and lower
levels of party discipline, make the United States more
prone to capture by special interests looking to put a
hold on retrenchment.
Even if it were desirable, however, constitutional
reform to reduce the number of veto players in
the U.S. system is clearly not in the cards. So let us
consider the positive side of the ledger. Jack Snyders
Myths of Empire suggests that economic concentration
is a key factor in fostering overstretch and preventing
successful retrenchment. States such as Germany and
Japanwhich had highly concentrated, monopolistic
economies, tended toward overstretch. This is because
these large monopolistic conglomerates could cooperate in fostering expansion overseas even where it
was against the interests of the state as a whole. For
instance, German industry supported naval rearmament, which antagonized Britain, while German agriculture supported protective tariffs, which alienated

54

Russia. Industrial and agricultural concerns struck an

informal deal to support each others preferred foreign
policy, even though it would have benefited Germany
as a whole to placate at least one in the Anglo-Russian
duo (Snyder 1991).
However, the United States has always had a less
concentrated, more diverse economy than Germany
or Japan. There are a number of economic interests in
the United States which would most likely be opposed
to retrenchment, but there are also many others which
would be either in favor or neutral on the subject.
Moreover, the anti-retrenchment interests are simply
not as big or influential in relative terms in the United
States as in Imperial Germany or Japan. It should not,
therefore, be beyond the wit of pro-retrenchment political leaders to build successful coalitions in favor of
a well-designed retrenchment policy.
Opinion polls conducted by Gallup for Dartmouths Benjamin Valentino tentatively support this
conclusion. Valentinos polls find that there is no majority support for cutting any of the specifically named
big ticket items in the Federal budgetSocial Security,
Medicare, or defense. However, defense is by far the
most popular of the three as a target for cuts amongst
all Americans and even marginally among Republicans; 35.4 percent of the overall sample support defense cuts versus only 9.7 percent who are in favor of
cuts in Social Security and 11.8 percent for Medicare.
A majority of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, also believe that the United States can no
longer afford to maintain all of its commitments to defend all of its alliesthough, as is often the case with
such polls, when it comes to discussing abandoning
specific commitments, support drops. Surprisingly,
the poll also shows that a majority of Americans be-

55

lieve that the global security situation is more dangerous than during the Cold War. Given that the majority
of international relations scholars would not concur
with this assessment, changing this perception may
be one particularly effective way of building public
support for retrenchment.10
CONCLUSION
As could be surmised from the discussion previously, insights from the relevant literature suggest
that intelligent American retrenchment is in the interests of the United States and of international security
more generally. The security situation is benign, while
the fiscal situation is not.
Economically, excessive defense spending diverts
money from more productive uses in the civilian sector, undermining future potential power. Even though
the U.S. Government borrows at relatively good rates
today, absent retrenchment, this may not continue in
the future. Good creditworthiness being a key component of national strength, this also has clear implications for security and foreign policy.
The security situation, by contrast, provides U.S.
policymakers with some slack. Because violent crises such as Syria or Libya frequently arise and preoccupy the policy community, it can be easy to miss
the wood for the trees and forget that the world of
today is one of striking peacefulness by historical
standards (Pinker 2011). We do not have data on Roman, Habsburg, or Ming Dynasty military manpower
or defense expenditures, so it is impossible to say for
sure, but there is a strong case to be made that Americas post-Cold War military superiority is historically
unprecedented. Most other actors in the international

56

system are either potentially powerful but friendly

(like the EU or Japan) or hostile but weak (like North
Korea). Only China combines power potential with
uncertain intentions, but this is a challenge requiring fiscal solvency for the future rather than a large
military buildup today.
Of course, U.S. military superiority and the current
peacefulness of global politics are not uncorrelated.
That is why retrenchment should not mean isolationism 1930s-style. Rather, a policy somewhere between
selective engagement and offshore balancing suits
the needs of the hour best. Maintain peace between
the great powers and keep the global trading system
open, but avoid entanglement in peripheral ventures
which sap U.S. strength unnecessarily.
Retrenchment will not be easy, given the number
of vested interests involved in continued high defense
spending, the multiple veto points in the American
political system, and the existence of expert problems. Nonetheless, there is room for skilled political
leadership to build coalitions in favor of intelligent
retrenchment.
There are some ways in which the United States
can get more bang for its defense buck, though many
others have been or are being implemented already.
One way is to adopt the idea of asymmetric cost imposition. As the United States itself did with Soviet air
defense in the 1970s, the United States today should
look at its potential allies and rivals to determine
their areas of comparative disadvantage and subtly
shift U.S. defense spending to take advantage of these
situations.
American policymakers (and voters) also need
to have a clear understanding of the sunk costs fallacy. Projects cannot be justified partly with reference

57

to sums already spent on them. Sunk costs are sunk

and cannot be recovered. The only relevant question
is whether the present and future benefits of a project
outweigh the present and future costs.
This leads to the final principle, which is perhaps
the most important. Substitution, asymmetric cost imposition, and forgetting sunk costs can only go so far.
If there were lots of easy ways to retrench, policymakers would probably have discovered most of them already. Rather, it is impossible to discuss retrenchment
solely as a cost cutting exercise without asking very
fundamental questions about what defense spending
is actually for (Hartley 2011). What is the good which
defense dollars are designed to buy?
This is the principle of final outputs.
Examples in other areas of public policy help to
make this concept clear. Mayors, for instance, often
boast about the number of police officers they hire. Yet
the principle of final outputs suggests that this is not
the correct metric by which to judge crime policy. Police officers hired are an input, not an output measure.
The important metric, therefore, is not the number of
police hired, but the level of crime.
Right now, similar output metrics elude U.S. defense policymakers. Yet this does not mean to say that
it should always continue to do so. Of course, defense
policy is designed to achieve a number of different objectivesprotecting U.S. citizens overseas, forestalling terrorist attacks, keeping sea lanes open, preventing nuclear proliferation, and so on. This is entirely
correct. However, determining whether taxpayers are
getting value for money in terms of defense spending
will need to involve putting some numbers on these

58

goals to put the benefits on the same scale as the costs.

This would involve asking questions like: How much
of a reduction in risk of an East Asian war is affected
by the current U.S. military presence? How much likelier would this be if the United States were to downsize its presence by a given amount? What would be
the costs of such a conflagration?
As long as the benefits of a given policy remain
nebulous, it is easier for self-interested parties either to
exaggerate or to downplay them. Compelling individuals to put actual numbers on their arguments would
help, at a minimum, to rule out genuinely implausible
scenarios. Explicitness also helps in accumulating and
refining our understanding. It is quite likely that the
first exercise in explicit cost-benefit analysis of U.S.
defense policy would result in hotly contested figures
and projections. Yet, this is to the good. If a critic believes a given prediction to be wrong, perhaps he or
she has a better one and a compelling argument for
why it is better. If the argument in favor of the revised
figure is genuinely better, it should be adopted, and so
our knowledge progresses and predictions improve.
Such exercises in cost-benefit analysis for longterm, complex global challenges already have been undertaken. For instance, the British Governments Stern
Report, a cost benefit analysis of policies designed to
halt or slow climate change, explicitly assigned probabilities and numbers to various long-term scenarios
across the globe (Stern 2006). Long-term meteorological projections are notoriously difficult, but, nonetheless, the Stern Report was able to base very plausible
and consistent calculations on them. Similarly, the
Copenhagen Consensusestablished by the Danish
economist Bjorn Lomborg and including many eminent political scientists and economists such as Dou-

59

glass C. North, Thomas Schelling, Jagdish Bhagwati,

Robert Fogel, and Paul Collier also has sought to use
cost-benefit analysis to gauge the long-term, worldwide impact of policies designed to tackle a variety of
problems ranging from conflict and disease prevention to financial instability.11 Could not a similar application of cost benefit analysis to U.S. national security
strategy pay dividends? Would such a report become
politicized? Of course, but at least it would compel
all sides to make explicit the assumptions which underlie their views, rather than hiding behind a veil of
vagueness.
It may strike many readers as foolhardy and ambitious to imagine such an undertaking. After all, we
live in an exceptionally complex world in which prediction is very difficult. Yet prediction and scenario
planning should not be avoided simply because they
are hard. If the world were radically unpredictable, a
domain of true uncertainty rather than risk, there
would be no basis to prefer any policy over any other
(Sunstein 2005). We would have no basis to believe
that the current U.S. defense policy is any better than
disarming completely, or declaring war on the entire
planet. Given that hardly any voices in the current debate seriously make the previous arguments, the difference between those who are skeptical of long-term
prediction and assessment and those who believe it
necessary, if difficult, is actually one of degree rather
than of kind. To say that the world is complex and
that it is very difficult to predict the future is simply
a more sophisticated way of saying, I dont know.
Neither political leaders nor the public at large need
expensively trained political scientists, economists,
or historians to hear that. As Samuel Huntington
pointed out:

60

If you tell people the world is complicated, youre not

doing your job as a social scientist. They already know
its complicated. Your job is to distill it, simplify it, and
give them a sense of what is the single, or what are the
couple, of powerful causes which explain this powerful phenomenon.12

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ENDNOTES - CHAPTER 2
1. See www.nytimes.com/1999/02/05/news/05iht-france.t_0.html.
2. See www.sipri.org/databases/milex.
3. See hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi/.
4. See https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/.
5. In fiscal year 2008-09, 65 percent of Iranian Government revenue came from the oil industry. See iranprimer.usip.
org/sites/iranprimer.usip.org/files/The%20Oil%20and%20Gas%
20Industry.pdf.
6. See hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/hdi/.

67

7. Ibid.
8. Economists such as Paul Krugman point out that increased
U.S. borrowing at present has not resulted in higher interest
ratesin fact, the real interest rate on U.S. Treasury bonds is currently negative. However, this results from the special circumstances of the current global economy in which investors view
American sovereign debt as the best of a very bad bunch. As former President Bill Clinton pointed out, once the world economy
recovers and investors begin to perceive safer and more profitable investment opportunities elsewhere, Americas currently
low borrowing costs should increase substantially absent action
on the deficit.
9. See www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/25/robert-gates-defensejoint-strike-fighter-program_n_853489.html.
10. See www.dartmouth.edu/~benv/files/poll%20responses%20
by%20party%20ID.pdf.
11. See www.copenhagenconsensus.com/research-topics.
12. See www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/05/remembering_
samuel_huntington.

68

CHAPTER 3
HERBERT HOOVER AND THE
ADJUSTMENT TO THE DEPRESSION
Eleanore Douglas
The interwar period in American history provides
an unparalleled opportunity to examine the dynamics
of retrenchment and renewal. Herbert Hoover, as one
of the main architects of the 1920s Republican strategy
of retrenchment, is indelibly associated with the strategy and with its subsequent crisis and failure during
his presidency. Less well examined are Hoovers own
differences with the traditional Republican heritage
of laissez-faire and his subsequent attempts to change
the strategy of retrenchment in the face of the Depression crisis, establishing the initial policy foundations for what would subsequently becomeunder
Roosevelta vigorous strategy of domestic renewal.
Despite these efforts at adaptation, Hoovers strong
adherence to his own political philosophy and his cautious, methodical approach not only limited his freedom of action in formulating a successful response to
the Great Depression, but also fatally undermined the
potency of those steps he did take.
INTRODUCTION
As discussions over a series of fiscal cliffs extend into another year in Washington, so too does the
heated debate over strategies of retrenchment and renewal. On the one side are those who see Americas
military and economy perilously overstretched by the
foreign policy commitments and actions of the past

69

decade. They see the rise of new powers, the rise of the
developing world, and argue that a redefinition of our
interests is required to accept with grace our declining
relative position. They call for a broad-reaching strategy of retrenchment, namely, one that:
. . . decreas[es] the overall costs of foreign policy by
redistributing resources away from peripheral commitments and toward core commitments. Concretely,
declining great powers select from a wide menu of
policy options . . . economizing expenditures, reducing risks, and shifting burdens.1

Retrenchment can also be understood from a domestic policy perspective as a shifting and redistribution of state resources vis--vis society. A strategy of
domestic retrenchment thus implies a dramatic decrease in the scope and scale of domestic government
activities and expenditures.2
On the other side are those who see a fundamental
misperception at the root of Americas current economic woes. They argue the primary cause of our fiscal problems is not defense spending, which takes up
only a small percentage of our gross domestic product
(GDP). Instead, they point to ballooning entitlement
expenditures reinforced by Americas gently aging
population. Observing the same rise of new forces in
the international environment, they emphasize the
dangers of premature retrenchment. They foresee it
opening strategic vulnerabilities to our national security, reducing opportunities for influence, and with
these trends, the probability of real decline. These
advocates for a strategy of renewal call for the maintenance of critical defense expenditures and a reaffirmation of foreign policy commitments to address the
shifting constellations of international power.3
70

Critical to both discussions is retrenchments indelible link with decline: either as a rational response
to decline, or as a key precipitate of decline. Retrenchment, however, is not always historically linked to
decline. One of the most significant periods of retrenchment in U.S. history followed hard upon the
heels of World War I and was subsequently followed
by an even more dramatic period of renewal and the
rise of the United States to global preeminence during
World War II. The interwar period also contains the
major example of retrenchment taken too far, providing the elbow room required for the rise of Germany
and Japan during the 1930s. Even so, some argue that
the partial American retrenchment of the 1920s, with
its peculiar balance of economic engagement and
political-military withdrawal, helped to lay important
foundations for Americas later reemergence in a position of global preeminence.
Central to understanding the dynamics of this
American interwar period of retrenchment, its
strengths, and its limitations is the figure of Herbert
Hoover. Hoover and his political philosophy in many
ways exemplified the best aspects of the Republican
retrenchment strategy of the 1920s. His approach
seemed successful during an extended period of
American economic growth and relative international
quiescence. Unlike more traditional proponents of
laissez-faire government, Hoover adopted a strategy
of retrenchment explicitly offered a positive vision for
action in response to modern problems and even crises. Hoover faithfully adhered to his approach as the
austerity crisis of the Great Depression unfolded. In
response to the failure of retrenchment policies either
to prevent or to mitigate the conditions of the Depression crisis, Hoover slowly adapted, building the first

71

innovative elements of what might be termed a program of domestic economic renewal. He also tried and
failed to prevent the collapse of the international liberal economic system and, with it, Americas remaining
ties to international engagement. He also continued
to scale back U.S. security commitments in the face of
events to focus on the economic crises at home and
abroad, despite evidence of dramatic changes to key
elements of the post-war international security architecture. In so doing, some have argued that Hoover signaled too strongly Americas lack of interest in maintaining the stability of the international system and
opened the door to the rise of new threats from Japan
and Germany.
THE REPUBLICAN RETRENCHMENT LEGACY
OF THE 1920S
The American retrenchment of the 1920s had its
roots in a number of different factors. The bloody engagement of World War I provoked an emphatic response from the American public which subsequently
recoiled from the idea of further costly entanglements
in European problems. The failure of President Woodrow Wilsons proposed League of Nations to garner
decisive support in the U.S. Congress seemed only to
confirm this shift away from the domestic indulgence
of international commitments and collective security.
Second, the considerable expansion of government
structure and expenditures incurred by World War I
produced deficits that were, for the time, impressive
and prompted a perceived need to get the countrys
budget and finances back on track.4
The retrenchment of the period was not merely a
redefinition of Americas international commitments

72

and activities; it contained a re-scoping of Americas

domestic governance structure as well. Domestically,
it represented the political reaction to 2 decades of
energetic progressive political reforms and policy
experimentation. Characterized by one historian as
an illustration of Newtons third law of physics, the
republican policies of the 1920s reflected a dramatic
political swing away from the heady reformism, trustbusting, state-interventionism, and grass-roots activism of the prior 20 years.5 Another argues that with
the war over, traditional fears of big government had
reasserted themselves and been spurred along by taxpayers and regulated interests who believed that they
stood to gain from shrinking the public sector.6 With
the collapse of the Russian state to Bolshevism and
the embrace of socialistic policies in other European
countries, there was also a desire to defend the validity of the capitalist model of economic development,
to avoid anything that resembled state-socialism, and
to seek out alternative models for handling modern
problems in a non-statist fashion.
The New Era retrenchment strategy entailed a
number of distinct policy positions that were moreor-less consistently carried out by a succession of Republican administrations, culminating with Hoovers
presidency in 1928. This New Era in American history has been seen as a period of international withdrawal so radical that it has often been characterized
by the term isolationism. As one European scholar has
argued, it is difficult to understand what isolationism
could mean if it is not descriptive of this rather dramatic shift in U.S. foreign policy.7 On the other hand,
some historians have been at great pains to point
out that the 1920sin contrast with other decades,
and the 1930s in particularwas a period of impres-

73

sive and energetic growth in American international

economic and cultural engagement. While there remained a hard-core of stand pat, isolationist conservatives in the Republican party, the administrations
of Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge turned away
from only the most formal and symbolic international
political and security instruments, namely the League
of Nations, and instead pursued normal international
relations and tackled major issues through the less
formal mechanisms of conferences, disarmament, and
economic diplomacy.8 Some have suggested that
this represented a clever and pragmatic maneuver
by internationalists within the Harding and Coolidge
administrations to continue international engagement
by other means in spite of the lack of domestic political support. The retrenchment strategy of the 1920s
was not a unilateral withdrawal on all fronts, but envisioned a substitution of more profitable economic
engagement for the riskier political and security
engagements of former times.9
The most significant aspect of the retrenchment of
the 1920s was the rejection of the League of Nations by
the U. S. Congress. They promoted . . . peace through
disarmament as an alternative to Wilsons program
of peace through world government.10 The Washington Conference of 1921 was a masterful hat-trick
of retrenchment diplomacy, successfully refining U.S.
obligations and interests through the Four- and Ninepower treaties governing spheres of interest in the
Far East. The conference also saw the most dramatic
international downsizing of military force structures
for almost half a century in its culminating effort,
the Washington Naval Treaty. This retrenchment of
defense expenditures proved fatal to the long-term
maintenance of British Imperial interests, and thus is

74

often looked at as a prime example of how retrenchment can readily be provocative of decline. While not
fatal, the treaty also proved to be problematic to the
United States, as it was not matched with a political
resolution of the status of the Philippines. Left ambiguous, Americas force posture was sufficient to suggest that the Far East remained a core interest, while
nonetheless providing insufficient means to protect
that interest.
One of the major international institutions supported by the Republican retrenchment of the 1920s
was the international monetary gold standard of exchange. It was widely assumed that there was simply no other workable basis on which currencies could
be rendered reliable and on which the international
economy could function. . . .11 Without a gold standard, Hoover noted, No merchant could know what
he might receive in payment by the time his goods
were delivered.12 With 59 countries on the gold standard before World War I and the total global supply of
gold filling only a modest two-story townhouse, few
people realized how fragile a system this was, built as
it was on so narrow a base.13 Aggravating this situation was the imbalance of gold reserves between the
worlds major powers after the war, with the United
States controlling over 60 percent of the total.14
Reinforcing Americas support for a return to the
international gold standard and hopefully a return to
profitable economic growth by Europe and the United
States was a policy of dollar diplomacy. Reflecting a
preference for the private backing of international finance, dollar diplomacy:
. . . hoped to mobilize private American capital for European reconstruction without engendering domestic

75

inflation, sacrificing conservative fiscal policies, compromising anti-statist principles, or risking the politicization of economic relationships.15

Investment expanded rapidly beyond Europe,

and the Republican administrations of the 1920s implemented a level of voluntary State Department
review of these otherwise private loans. Intended to
encourage better behavior in both investors and recipients, the system proved confusing and opaque. It
produced the worst compromise between self-regulation and oversight. The system . . . did not preclude
unproductive loans; yet, it engendered the belief that
the government had a responsibility to protect loans
it did not formally disapprove.16 Unfortunately, the
sheer volume of investment abroad proved itself to be
a source of instability.
Economically, the Americans were anything but
isolationist during the 1920s, investing as much as $80
billion across the globe and almost doubling the volume of foreign trade by 1929.17 The State Department
and Department of Commerce established a number
of fact-gathering agencies and commissions of experts.
They promoted international conferences and consultation to support the efforts of American businesses
to expand. The Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce alone expanded from six to 23 offices across the
country during that period.18 While U.S. trade was expanding at a remarkable pace, Europes significance
as a trading partner declined relative to Latin America
and the Far East.
Tariffs were, in part, a response to uncertainty
within the American business community about
how the nation should best protect its economic and
commercial needs in an increasingly interdependent

76

world.19 They were also a necessity borne of the rigors

of domestic politics. Policymakers justified this policy,
so contradictory to their international economic goals,
by arguing a prosperous domestic market would
increase the total market for imports regardless of
tariffs. The prosperity and economic growth of the
1920s was such that conditions did not immediately
contradict this assertion. But as one scholar noted, It
was impossible to sell to the world, lend to the world,
and refuse to buy from the world without eventually
courting disaster.20
Cultural exchange was a significant side effect
of the economic exuberance of the 1920s. The most
popular products of commercial trademotor cars,
films, radiowere not only useful items in and of
themselves, but also proved to be influential vectors
for artistic expression and a major medium of American cultural transmission to the rest of the world.21
Less tangibly, in their travels American businessmen
brought with them their professional values, ideas,
and organizational models. One historian notes that
concepts of business efficiency, professional organization, and voluntary cooperation were exported almost
as vigorously as American films and music.22 In addition to culture and the arts, the pursuit of diplomacy
and engagement by indirect means also produced a
powerful wellspring of grass-roots organizations and
values activism on such topics as womens rights, prohibition, disarmament, and peace.
A major domestic objective of the post-war Republican retrenchment was domestic tax relief. Secretary
of Treasury Andrew Mellon focused on the outsize
rates applied to the wealthy, reducing them from
73 percent to 25 percent, and reduced estate taxes to
better support bequests given by wealthy donors to

77

public institutions, charities, and schools.23 There was,

at the same time, a strong desire to reduce the total
level of public debt in the United States. These two
domestic priorities directly influenced Americas unwillingness to contemplate European war-debt relief
for almost the entire decade.24
The retrenchment strategy of the 1920s was also
plagued by a number of contradictions. While the
United States was not keen to take a leadership role in
the international economy, its size and weight ensured
it would have an influence regardless of its desire.
Without proper recognition of that fact and responsibility taken, the directional influence of the United
States on the international system was haphazard, as
often destabilizing as it was constructive. There were
also a number of tradeoffs implicit in the retrenchment policies of the 1920s, defending the repayment
of war debts so as to relieve the domestic tax burden,
for example. These tradeoffs were rarely reexamined
as global conditions shifted and changed. Americas
approach further suffered from a basic lack of coordination due to the diffusion of responsibility within the
executive branch, the small size of the federal government, and the deep professional and political divide
between Washington, the political capital, and New
York, the financial capital.25
HOOVER AND AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM
The figure of Hoover is critical to understanding
dynamics of this retrenchment strategy, its strengths,
and its limitations. Born into the relative poverty
and communal strength of a Quaker society in 1874,
Hoover was orphaned before the age of 10. Accepted
into the Pioneer class of the newly established Stan-

78

ford University at the age of 21, he studied geology

and mining. He worked on the U.S. Geological Survey during the summers, helping to map out parts of
Sierras around Lake Tahoe. After graduating in 1895,
Hoover spent a few months pulling ore carts for an
American mining firm before convincing a San Francisco law firm specializing in mining disputes to take
him on as the equivalent of a research assistant. At the
age of 23, Hoover was technically 13 years too young
for his first major post as an Inspecting Engineer for
the distinguished London firm of Bewick, Moreing &
Co. Hoover concealed his youth and embarked upon
his assignment to Western Australia and to China,
where he evaluated, managed, and reorganized a
variety of mining enterprises with great success and
even greater profit. Within 5 years, he was made a
partner of the firm and rapidly moved into the specialty of mining finance. Hoover subsequently opened
one of the largest silver mines of the 20th century in
Bawdwin, Burma. He started an Australian zinc mining operation, which later became a major portion of
the modern firm, Rio Tinto, one of the largest mining
enterprises in the world. He also advised on a rich
mining and industrial cooperative enterprise at Kyshtim, Russia, all before his 40th birthday.26
Having reached a point of uncontested financial
and professional success, Hoover turned his attention
toward public service. With the outbreak of World
War I, he won his first public role as Head of the Committee for the Relief of Belgium (CRB). After overseeing food relief to German-occupied Belgium and
France for 3 long and brutal years, Hoover returned to
Washington to take up the role as Food Administrator when the United States finally entered the conflict.
When the Armistice was signed, Hoover accompa-

79

nied the U.S. delegation to head the American Relief

Administration (ARA), which coordinated relief and
reconstruction operations throughout Europe in the
wake of the unexpected peace. Hoover subsequently
helped to organize a massive food relief program to
Russia in response to the civil-war spawned famine
there. By 1921, there was no private citizen better
known across the globe for his competence, energy,
and achievements in the face of humanitarian crisis.27
Hoover announced himself to be a Republican
during the 1920 presidential campaign. As a former
member of Woodrow Wilsons war cabinet and a vocal supporter of the League of Nations (with reservations), it had not been clear on which side of the political spectrum Hoover would ultimately come down.
Despite his vaunted humanitarian credentials and
international business reputation, many in the Republican Party remained perennially concerned about his
political views. Hoover represented a new generation
of Republicanism, one that embraced a number of
progressive values and ideas about governments role
in society, and one that discomfited the older laissezfaire elite, such as President Coolidge and Secretary
Andrew Mellon.28 Hoover served on presidential cabinets from 1917 until his accession to the presidency,
and spent 8 years as one of the most influential and
energetic Secretaries of Commerce in U.S. history. He
was bound up with and reflected many of the main
planks of the Republican retrenchment policies of
the era. His personal political philosophy, however,
in many ways also exemplified the most appealing
aspects of the Republican retrenchment strategy of
the 1920s.29
Hoovers own approach to retrenchment evolved
from his personal and professional experiences.

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Hoovers philosophy finds its clearest public expression in a pamphlet he published in 1922 entitled
American Individualism. Articulating the objectives of Hoovers approach, Hoover described what
he saw as the unique character of Americas society:
Our individualism differs from all others because it
embraces these great ideals: that while we build our
attainment on the individual, we shall safeguard to
every individual an equality of opportunity to take
that position in the community to which his intelligence, character, ability, and ambition entitle him; that
we keep the social solution free from frozen strata of
classes; that we shall stimulate effort of each individual to achievement; that through an enlarging sense of
responsibility and understanding we shall assist him
to this attainment, while he in turn must stand up to
the emery wheel of competition.30

Moving beyond simple negative injunctions on the

preservation of liberty, Hoover tried to characterize
the deeper purpose and positive vision enabled by
that same liberty.
Hoover then described how this objective was
to be realized in daily life in terms that the ordinary
American could understand:
We have long since realized that the basis of an advancing civilization must be a high and growing
standard of living for all the people, not for a single
class; that education, food, clothing, housing, and the
spreading use of what we so often term non-essentials,
are the real fertilizers of the soil from which spring the
finer flowers of life.31

At the heart of this vision was the engine of private

voluntarism and cooperative organization. Hoover
argued that:
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there are in the cooperative great hopes that we can

even gain in individuality, equality of opportunity,
and an enlarged field for initiative, and at the same
time reduce many of the great wastes of over-reckless
competition in production and distribution.32

It was through this cooperative mechanism that

Hoover increasingly sought to find a third way between unfettered capitalism and state socialism, to
build the bridge between self-interest and the public
interest, between the individual and the state. Hoover
hoped that the promotion of close cooperation between capital and labor, between government and
business, would enable the realization of their mutual
interests and the elimination of conflict.33
This spirit of private voluntarism and cooperative
organization dominated both his domestic and foreign
policy approaches, respectively termed cooperative
individualism and independent internationalism.34
In both spheres, Hoover also believed that the influence of professional experience and academic expertise would help to depoliticize intractable problems
and make them more amenable to solution. Hoover
saw the role of the federal government in American
society as primarily one of coordinating and supporting the independent actions of individuals and
groups. The federal government ought to provide reliable information and advice, to support public education and the advancement of science, and to enable the
more efficient conduct of business and society. As one
scholar has put it:
The invisible hand of the marketplace would be complemented, but not supplanted, by the visible hand
of cooperative planning to control the business cycle,
increase efficiency, and raise living standards.35
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In a presidential campaign speech, Hoover described it as follows:

It is as if we set a race. We, through free and universal
education provide the training of the runners; we give
to them an equal start; we provide in the government
the umpire of fairness in the race. The winner is he
who shows the most conscientious training, the greatest ability, and the greatest character.36

Politically and professionally moderate, Hoover

viewed his strategy as a positive map to the middle
course between the tyranny and bloated bureaucracy
of statism and the injustices of laissez-faire capitalism.
Yet, as with so many middle ways, it was not always clear where the boundaries of appropriate action lay. For example, a state-owned warehouse for
marketing agricultural commodities was an example
of unacceptable state intervention, but a private, or
even public-private, board could lend public funds to
a farming cooperative to build that same warehouse.37
To others, it was not always obvious where the acceptable midwife state ended and the unacceptable nanny
state began. His view of foreign relations similarly
suggested that the government should play a limited
role of guidance over the wider diversity of cooperative efforts in the international community. Critically,
the U.S. Government should avoid political commitments and entanglements that might destroy the natural fruits of voluntary international cooperation and
commerce. Independent, however, did not mean total disengagement. Hoover once described Americas
international position as that of being enmeshed in a
. . . great but delicate cobweb on which each radius
and spiral must maintain its precise relation to every
83

other one in order that the whole complex structure

may hold.38
Hoovers conception of international economic
engagement tended to prioritize self-sufficiency over
free-market efficiency. With the objective of a bettercontrolled economic expansion, Hoover tried to march
the line between interdependence and independence.
He encouraged U.S. businesses to seek markets outside of Europe, hoping to reduce Americas commercial dependency on Europe. He supported the monopolistic practices of American companies in their
foreign endeavors to give them an edge against European competition. He also sought to guarantee supplies of certain strategic materials like tin and rubber
in the interest of lessening the potential for future economic conflict. Finally, Hoover believed that prioritizing the health of Americas domestic economy would,
of itself, benefit global economic growth and trade. He
firmly believed that protecting the standard of living
of Americans through tariffs would enable them to
demand more global imports in the future and help to
stimulate the growth of global trade.39
Hoover had a complicated attitude toward coercion. His general attitude toward the use of force is
perhaps best expressed in a pre-war radio broadcast:
We cannot slay an idea or an ideology with machine
guns. Ideas live in mens minds in spite of military
defeat. They live until they have proved themselves
right or wrong.40 Yet he was not a pacifist, despite
his Quaker upbringing. While working in China during the Boxer rebellion, Hoover volunteered with
the European forces sent to relieve the international
settlement of Tientsin. Nonetheless, Hoover remained
staunchly opposed to the use of economic sanctions.
Hoovers experience of World War I had taught him

84

that sanctions were far more aggressive than most

people realized and often produced unintended effects. He argued that the Allied embargo of Germany
during World War I had been a mistake. It had unified the German people and given them financial relief from an otherwise deeply unfavorable trade balance. It had forced a radical overhaul of the German
economy, which, in his view, had the unintended consequence of producing a greater level of efficiency and
potential post-war strength.41
Hoover, whatever his philosophical views on the
role of government, was a very active individual. As
one scholar has commented:
Hoover strewed around phrases about individuality,
but he could not control his own sense of agency. He
was by personality an intervener; he liked to jump in,
and find a moral justification for doing so later.42

Despite the Republican administrations emphasis on

economy and restraint, Hoover and those sympathetic to his outlook were busily building a very active,
cooperative community with public finances.
These additions outweighed retrenchment elsewhere,
and many Americans accepted them as a superior kind
of national progressivism meeting social needs that
could not be satisfied by the bureaucratic and class
legislation proposals emanating from Congress.43

HOOVER AND THE CRISIS ON A

THOUSAND FRONTS
As Hoover began his presidency, there were few
hints of the tectonic events that would soon overtake
it. As he entered the office in March 1929, Hoover felt

85

that his approach already had gathered quite an impressive record of success. In 1929, real GDP had increased more than 6 percent, the unemployment rate
was about 3 percent, and the United States produced
$47 billion in manufactured goods and imported only
$854 million.44 Hoover was sufficiently confident in
his own and the Republicans achievements to declare
the end of poverty as one of his main campaign objectives. Even the shadow of a rapidly overheating stock
market could not sour his mood. Hoover felt that his
strategy had already been tested by the grinder of recession in 1921-22 and that he had developed tools adequate to counter a normal economic downturn.
Many of the early policies of the Hoover administration were an extension of the retrenchment policies
that had previously existed. Much of what was enacted in the first 2 years of his presidency originated in
the initiatives of his first few months, prior to the stock
market crash, prior to the onset of the Depression.45
In some cases, these policies strengthened already
well-trodden measures, such as disarmament and international disengagement. In other cases, they were
intended to soften the perceived domestic impact of
earlier policies, reaching out to farmers with cooperatives and with a new tariff.
After winning the election, Hoover was the first
President-elect to conduct a goodwill tour of Latin
America, visiting the capitals of nearly a dozen countries. Meeting with local representatives, he delivered
expressions of respect and mutual interest. Speaking
in Ampala, Honduras, Hoover noted:
In our daily life, good neighbors call upon each other
as evidence of the solicitude for the common welfare
and to learn of the circumstances and point of view of

86

each that there may come both understanding and respect. . . . This should be equally true among nations.46

His words were followed up with a policy of fiscal

restraint and of military withdrawal. The subsequent
release of the Clark Memorandum in March 1930 disavowed the famous Roosevelt Corollary which had
formed the basis for many prior American interventions to the south. Hoovers initiative formed the
foundation for what would later become the Good
Neighbor policy under Franklin Roosevelt and substantially narrowed the scope of existing U.S. security
commitments and obligations in Latin America. In
Hoovers Latin American policy, we can find the most
positive illustration of his vision for independent
internationalism.
Hoover also took the Republican retrenchment
position on international disarmament and military
expenditures and strengthened it even further. Some
might say he eventually took it to its natural extreme.
Hoover viewed military preparedness largely in terms
of national economic preparedness. He also viewed
national defense and disarmament as . . . inextricably
intertwined, for the most economical means of assuring preparedness was to encourage other nations to
join the United States in reducing arms levels.47 Disarmament served not merely the purpose of freeing
up national budgets for enhanced economic growth
and better fiscal discipline, but it also reinforced the
integrity of the delicate web of treaties put in place
by Secretary of State Charles Hughes and most recently, Secretary Frank Kellogg and Foreign Minister
Aristide Briand.
A disarmament conference was scheduled for
January 1930 in London, United Kingdom (UK), af-

87

ter the prior naval conference in Geneva in 1927 had

broken up in disarray. Hoover decided to help the
London agreement along by using his personal influence with Ramsay MacDonald, who became the first
sitting UK Prime Minister to visit the United States in
early-October 1929. The London Disarmament Conference focused on cruisers, the object of a minor arms
race since the early-1920s. The conference agreement,
signed on April 22, 1930, was hailed as a welcome
end to an anticipated Anglo-American naval arms
race and achieved a comfortable parity between the
two powers. However, it failed to entice either Italy
or France to join and overlooked the relative gains
made by the Japanese. Hoover also was disappointed
by his inability to get agreement on the immunity of
international food shipping, which he saw as vital for
humanitarian reasons and as a means to enable much
larger naval cuts in the future.48
Early in his presidency, using a skillful bureaucratic maneuver, Hoover also managed the rare feat
of dramatically cutting the defense budget without
publicly appearing to do so. It began with a simplified pocket budget initiative intended to make the
federal budget more understandable to the public. As
part of this, Hoover added all the costs associated with
veterans, as well as the principal and interest on the
national debt that had grown since World War I, to the
defense portion of the federal budget. This dramatically increased the publicly reported size of the military portion, which took up 72 percent of the projected
1931 fiscal year budget and made comparatively more
reasonable his calls for moderation.49
In tempering the effects of retrenchment, one of
Hoovers first acts was to call a special session of Congress to address the needs of the American farmer.

88

From this session, came the Agricultural Marketing

Act, which set up a Farm Board with funding of $500
million, and the early drafts for what would eventually be signed as the Smoot-Hawley tariff. The Farm
Board was designed from Hoovers classic model of
cooperative individualism and efficiency and applied to agriculture. He envisioned it as the solution
to American farmers lack of clout in the market and
their inequality with Eastern manufacturers. The
Farm Board was intended to address two inherent
problems with agriculture: the overproduction problem, which plagued wheat and cotton, and the lack
of efficiency and resilience in the agricultural sector
more generally. To address these problems, the Farm
Board encouraged and financially supported the establishment of small farming cooperatives across the
country. Hoover also encouraged the mechanism of
national commodity associations whereby cooperatives could channel their resources more efficiently to
try to stabilize the market. The Farm Board also had
the slightly more controversial and interventionist authority to make purchases in agricultural commodity
markets to stabilize prices in a crisis.50
Infamous for its role in freezing international trade,
the Smoot-Hawley tariff oddly was also inspired as a
Republican campaign measure to provide relief to the
farmers. Heavily dependent on the unpredictable international market to absorb their surplus, American
farmers had not experienced the benefits of the policies
of the 1920s that most Americans had. The bills agricultural backers originally hoped the new tariff would
equalize the treatment of tariff protections between
agriculture and industry (the bill ultimately increased
more manufacturing than agricultural tariffs), as well
as provide a means of discretely embedding price sup-

89

port measures. These debentures were specifically

eliminated by Hoover, but the final bill retained a
Tariff Commission and flexible tariff review authority
that Hoover felt were essential to conducting rational trade policy. Unfortunately, the record of review
of the prior Tariff Commission throughout the 1920s
was not one to prompt optimism in even the most fervent of technocrats.51
Given Republican Party sponsorship of the bill
and the length of the deliberations, it is not clear
whether there was a real option to veto the heavily
log-rolled measure. While the total increase in tariff
rates brought about by Smoot-Hawley was not as extreme as the Fordney-McCumber tariff reform of 1922,
it increased an already high average tariff rate to 40.1
percent, peaking in 1932 at 59.1 percent, the second
highest recorded value in U. S. history.52 It also proved
unfortunate that the bill had taken so long to develop.
When it was eventually signed into law on June 17,
1930, the Smoot-Hawley tariff was seen as a gratuitous
and insulting gesture to a world teetering on the brink
of recession. Many make the case that Hoovers background in international business and finance should
have convinced him, if anyone, of the bills potentially
damaging impact, but Hoovers stance on protectionism was long-standing. The Smoot-Hawley tariff was
to have unanticipated consequences that would materially affect global trade for the remainder of the
decade.53
In October 1929, the New York Stock Exchange
experienced a handful of the most severe shocks in
its history. Economists, bankers, and politicians had
long expected a correction, and the early response at
the highest levels was one of relief. If nothing else, it
halted the seemingly endless drain of European cur-

90

rencies westward across the Atlantic Ocean. One of

the common misperceptions of this period is the idea
that the stock market crash caused the Great Depression: it did not. The collapse of Americas primary
capital market eventually did come to affect millions
of ordinary Americans, but a great deal more had to
occur before the unraveling of the American economy
was to become inevitable. Nonetheless, the crash did
have an immediate impact on public and business
confidence that needed to be addressed.54
Hoover responded to the crash, believing it to be
little more than a traditional, albeit severe, economic
downturn. Given his prior work supporting the development of countercyclical ideas and policy instruments, Hoover was confident and felt well-positioned
to handle the crisis in a fashion that was consistent
with his philosophy and the prior Republican approach. He called for a series of national Conferences
for Continued Industrial Progress, drawing in leaders from major business, banking, railroads, utilities,
construction, agriculture, and labor. These conferences undertook developing cooperative terms of agreement that would preserve employment and wages
and prevent a disruption of production. Instead of
reducing production, cutting jobs, cutting wages, and
maintaining prices to the extent possible, Hoover proposed that businesses maintain jobs and wages and
continue to produce even while the market for their
goods was melting away. As one scholar has noted:
Hoover was asking the businessmen to forswear all
their natural inclinations. . . . It is surprising, perhaps,
that they agreed to follow his plan, and even more surprising that, so far as wage rates were concerned, they
generally made an effort to comply.55

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These efforts have been singled out as one of Hoovers

more jejune and least successful attempts to maintain
the economy.
Hoover carefully deployed all the measures that he
had previously worked out in the 1921-22 recession.
He accelerated the initiation of and appropriation for
already authorized Federal construction contracts. He
increased and sped up plans for new construction to
include the new Department of Commerce building.
Unfortunately, federal construction at this time was
but a small amount of the total construction industry,
only $210 million in 1930.56 Only a handful of state
and local governments followed suit, and even fewer
in the private sector. By the end of the year though,
it appeared that things might be turning around. The
stock market largely had recovered. Employment and
production appeared to be responding in a fashion
consistent with previous economic cycles. Early in
1930, Hoover had little notion that he would not be
able to oversee a rapid and energetic recovery.57 Over
the next 2 years, Hoover clung tenaciously to many
of the central elements of his vision in formulating a
government response to the crisis: the cooperative, the
information exchange, and the private relief agency
supported with public funds.
In the summer of 1930, a record-breaking drought
struck the agricultural sector. American agriculture
already laid low by years of debt overhang, overproduction, and low commodity priceswas hit badly.
In response to the drought, Hoover established an
Emergency Commission and secured a relationship
with the American Red Cross, which had a network
in many of the affected states. With starter funding
and private donations, Hoover hoped the Red Cross
network would be able to respond to the disaster in as

92

competent a fashion as their response to the great Mississippi floods had been under Hoovers supervision
in 1927. The partnership with the Red Cross quickly
proved to be problematic. While the Red Cross had a
network of officials in place and had already pledged
resources to provide aide, they dispersed relief with a
frustrating slowness rooted in their own attempts to
avoid stifling the private flows of charity.58 Hoover,
meanwhile continued to make distinctions with
which few could sympathize. Concerned to avoid
even the appearance of direct government handouts,
Hoover argued endlessly with Congress over the particulars of agricultural relief over the next few years.
Most famously, Hoover approved loans for feed and
seed, but refused to provide food or relief directly to
farmers. No longer recalled as the great humanitarian,
. . . Hoover would be subject to the taunt that he was
willing to feed the areas livestock but not its starving
farmers.59
Hoovers endeavors to encourage private charity
and community responses to the continuing economic
depression were also met with far less success than
he had ever experienced. The Presidents Emergency
Committee on Employment (PECE) acted as a national advisory board, an investigative office, and a public
relations agency, all in hopes of stimulating local charity, cooperative projects, and matching donors with
needy recipients. Despite having 3,000 local committees across the country, its efforts proved insufficient
to the scale and complexity of the unemployment
problem then unfolding. Another famous mechanism
of local charity, the community chest, dramatically increased its draw as the Depression deepened. While
1932 was their biggest year for donations, the total was
still only $35 million, a fraction of what was needed to
provide relief.60
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The National Credit Corporation (NCC) was perhaps Hoovers last and most dramatic attempt to imbue a community with the proper spirit of cooperative
self-help. Announced in October 1931, in the wake
of a second wave of bank closures, the NCC was the
product of extraordinary and painstaking behind-thescenes negotiations between Hoover and New Yorks
private bank leaders. It was intended to develop an
approved pool of liquid capital to be reinfused into the
banking system as needed. Private bankers seemed to
be neither willing nor able to accumulate and deploy
capital in even the modest amounts requested. At that
stage, however, Hoover had already turned to other
policy instruments.61
During the winter of 1930, the United States and
the international economy had reached a darker turning point. By the early-1930s, the outflow of American
liquidity to international markets had shuddered to a
halt. The international exchange system, constructed
on an unbalanced foundation and made dependent
upon American investment, had already sustained severe stress as a result of the speculative stock bubble
on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It had not
only withdrawn American investment from Europe
but also drew in scarce European capital before the
bubble broke. Germany, whose finances had been
sustained on the famous and fragile revolving door
of the Dawes plan, was in a particularly precarious
state. In December 1930, the immigrant-owned and
enticingly titled Bank of United States in New York
collapsed due to a mix of overexposure to the stock
market, social prejudices, and the Darwinian theories
many bank managers used to appraise distressed institutions at the time. The largest commercial bank
failure in American history at that time, it wiped out

94

$286 million from 440,000 depositors and threatened a

wave of bank collapses.62
In the spring of 1931, rumors of a German economic customs union with Austria created public fear
and furor. French opposition to the rumored plan appears to have fatally undermined investor confidence
in Austrias largest and most distinguished bank, the
Credit-Anstalt. The collapse of the Credit-Anstalt produced a dangerous run on Germanys currency and
threatened to pull out the peg from beneath the City
of London. Long a hawk on the matter of war debts,
Hoover put forward a bold proposal to suspend war
debt and war reparations payments for a year and to
put together a negotiated standstill agreement with
private bankers on the withdrawal of existing interstate debts. Given the controversial nature of this temporary moratorium in domestic politics, Hoover hesitated. He also failed to consult the French, delaying
the agreement even further. While the moratorium
eventually was agreed to, it put only a finger in the
dike. The German currency soon experienced another
run such that Germany suspended its international
exchange. The rising waters then passed on to London
where, in September 1931, the Bank of London took
the UK off the gold standard. Then it rushed toward
the U.S. banking system, which had been weakened
by both the drought and the prior flurry of bank failures, and created a much more serious chain of bankfailures. Some 2,200 banks closed by the end of 1931,
wiping out some $1.7 billion in deposits.63
The 1931 collapse of the international gold exchange standard and the rolling waves of banking crises from Europe across the Atlantic and to the Pacific
Oceans did more than almost anything else to transform the depression into the Great Depression. John

95

Maynard Keynes whimsically described the essential

problem of the gold standard:
Almost throughout the world, gold has been withdrawn from circulation. It no longer passes from hand
to hand, and the touch of the metal has been taken
from mens greedy palms. The little household gods,
who dwelt in purses and stockings and tin boxes,
have been swallowed by a single golden image in each
country, which lives underground and is not seen.
Gold is out of sightgone back into the soil. But when
the gods are no longer seen in a yellow panoply walking the earth, we begin to rationalize them; and it is
not long before there is nothing left.64

In Hoovers words, the movement of gold and

credit in 1931 was like, . . . a loose cannon on the deck
of the world in a tempest-tossed sea.65 The extreme
movements and uncertainty surrounding the goldexchange standard in 1931 and its dictates, and the
contradictory policies of the Federal Reserve Banks,
produced what Milton Friedman termed a deflationary wringer, bringing Keyness prophecy most horribly to life. In retrospect, many economists argue that
the most significant cause of the Great Depression was
this deflation, noting that . . . the actual money supply available dropped by nearly 4 percent between the
end of 1928 and the end of 1930.66
An economys need for liquidity was something
that Hoover instinctively recognized and understood
as an international businessman. As the crisis of 193031 began to unfold, Hoover moved quickly to shore up
both the international monetary system abroad, and
to first protect and then to revive the banking system
at home. Under these clear crisis conditions, Hoover
began to adapt his traditional approach, moving from

96

retrenchment to what might be viewed as the start of

a program for domestic renewal. The seeds were already to be found in some of his cooperative and early
countercyclical efforts, for example, the expansion of
federal construction projects and the Farm Boards
purchasing authority. However, the crisis of 1930-31
generated new policies of renewal that took Hoover
far from his comfort zone.
Most important, the failure of the privately organized NCC prompted Hoover to establish the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC). Modeled on the
War Finance Corporation of the Wilson era, Hoover
originally conceived a broad mandate for the RFC,
which was modeled on the War Finance Corporation
of the Wilson era. He drafted provisions authorizing
lending to industry, farmers, and local communities,
in addition to banks. Some of these components were
held up by Congress until the fall of 1932, due both
to partisan tensions and to genuine concerns as to the
radical nature and far-reaching effects of this new legislation. A temporary crisis agency, the RFC would
continue for 20 years and lend some $50 billion before
it finally closed. Unfortunately, the RFC was not able
to accomplish much in the immediate crisis, as most
new borrowers used the funds to extend old loans or
to make extremely conservative investments.67
In addition to the RFC, Hoover submitted the
Glass-Steagall Act of February 1932, which broadened
the definition of collateral acceptable for Federal Reserve System loans, thereby expanding the available
liquidity in the American banking system. He also initiated legislation calling for a mortgage discounting
service similar to what the Federal Reserve provided
for banks. It called for mortgages to be eligible as security for loans at 12 new Home Loan Banks. Congress

97

did not pass this measure until July 1932. In the interim, home foreclosures continued to eliminate even
more liquidity from the economy.68
Many identified the establishment of the RFC as a
critical turning point in the scope of domestic government, even at the time. Now that direct federal relief
had been justified and provided to the banks, . . . the
president had implicitly legitimated the claims of other sectors for financial assistance.69 Hoovers continuing stance against direct relief for unemployment and
drought became increasingly hard to sustain. Given
the intent of Hoovers philosophy to find a third way
between laissez-faire capitalism and state socialism,
perhaps the most damning evidence of Hoovers failure is to be found in information uncovered by Business Week at the time. The number of visitors requesting visas to visit the Soviet Union doubled in 1930 and
doubled again the following year. Some even applied
for work visas and declared their intent to remain in
the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).70 In
response to growing calls for unemployment relief,
Hoover reluctantly passed the Relief and Reconstruction Act of July 21, 1932, providing the RFC with an
additional $1.5 billion in funds for self-liquidating
public works and an additional $300 million to states
for the relief programs of their choice. With this measure, Hoovers stance against direct government intervention was almost entirely overthrown, yet he
continued to resist similar emergency measures on
a variety of fronts. 71
Many of Hoovers policies of domestic renewal
were expanded upon by the subsequent Franklin
Roosevelt administration. Many of Hoovers own appointed administrators were carried over. Some of the
legislation prepared by the Hoover administration, af-

98

ter being blocked by an unfriendly and uncooperative

Congress, quickly found passage in 1933. As scholars
have noted, there were a number of similarities between Roosevelts and Hoovers policies for countering the Depression crisis at home. One historian has
argued that, To a considerable degree the differences
lay in divergent definitions of what constituted an
emergency or a necessary supplement rather than in
divergent theories of what constituted liberal governance.72 It was a disagreement of means, not of ends.
On the other hand, Hoover and Roosevelt did take
distinctly different approaches to the question of international economic engagement and renewal under
austerity conditions.
Late in his presidency, Hoover threw himself most
energetically into perhaps vain efforts to prevent the
collapse of the liberal international economic system.
He followed the moratorium and standstill agreement of 1931 and the subsequent collapse of the gold
exchange standard with calls and preparations for a
World Economic Conference to take place in June 1933
after he had left office. At this conference, everything
that had previously been off-limitsi.e., war debt
renegotiations and reparationswould be open for
discussion as an incentive to save the international exchange standard. By trading debt payments for the
stabilization of currencies, Hoover hoped to eliminate
exchange controls, revive international commerce,
stimulate American exports, and raise commodity
prices.73 Exchange stability was critical to U.S. interests at this point partly because the United States was
still on the gold standard and partly because . . . it
was a principle for preserving economic internationalism at a time when more and more nations were abandoning it in favor of economic nationalism.74 While

99

Hoover argued loudly that the primary causes of the

crisis were to be found abroad, he also believed that
the quickest means to recovery lay in revitalizing the
international economic system.
In 1932, Hoover was swimming against the public and the political stream. Commentators and politicians demonstrated a desire to focus on the home
front. The idea of bringing back internationalism
seemed premature, if not foolish. In order to prevent
the economic crisis from growing worse, it seemed
imperative to reduce foreign commitments and ties as
much as possible.75 President Roosevelt did not attend the summit that had been organized with such
fervor by his predecessor, and publicly jettisoned the
agreement his attendant advisors had worked out. In
the eyes of some historians and economists, the World
Economic Conference has marked the point . . . when
the United States abandoned any pretense of international cooperation and decided to generate a recovery on its own. The result was a disastrous backlash
against globalization.76 Whereas the retrenchment
of the 1920s had been a broad substitution of international economic engagement for political and military
engagement, the retrenchment of the early Depression
saw a withdrawal from almost all forms of international engagement to focus on the foremost challenge
of domestic economic renewal.
HERBERT HOOVERS LEGACY
Hoover, a methodical and private man by nature,
unfortunately failed to respond to the Depression crisis with the kind of leadership the American public
required. He gave the public the impression of being
out of touch with real conditions, unsympathetic to

100

the troubles of the country as a whole, and reluctant

to shift course in response to events. His inability to
shift his approach to the farming crisis damaged his
humanitarian reputation, but it was his handling of
the Veterans March on Washington, DC, that definitively sunk what remained of his reputation and most
likely cost him the presidential election.
Until 1932, Hoover had enjoyed a good relationship with veterans. He had established the Veterans
Administration on July 21, 1930, built 25 new veterans
hospitals, and increased the provision of benefits to
420,000 veterans whose disabilities were not directly
linked to their service.77 The summer of 1932 saw
thousands of veterans marching on Washington and
calling for an early payment of their bonuses. Hoover
opposed early payment, but Congress authorized
loans to be disbursed immediately against the bonus
amounts. Their aims attained, the veterans were ordered to disperse from the capital region. Upon being given presidential instructions on July 28, 1932,
to enforce an orderly dispersal, Army Chief of Staff
General Douglas MacArthur exceeded his orders and
participated in what appeared to be, to all witnesses,
an armed rout. This was followed up with the gratuitous burning of the veterans encampment. While
MacArthurs actions were in blatant disregard of the
Presidents instructions, he refused to take public responsibility for having done so. What is perhaps more
surprising was that Hoover proved willing to buy into
MacArthurs and Secretary of Defense Hurleys explanation that the action had been a justified response to
a radical communist plot and publicized this explanation. When a Department of Justice investigation
failed to find any evidence of such plot, or indeed of
radical communists among the bonus-marchers, public opinion swung decisively against the President.
101

There is also evidence that Hoover was too quick to

declare victory and to attempt a return to the familiar
tenets of his retrenchment strategy of old, prematurely
undermining some of the more successful steps of his
renewal approach. A central tenet of classical economics, Hoover believed that the most important thing
he could do to restore confidence was to balance the
federal budgeta central tenet of classical economics.
After trying and failing to get the Federal Reserve to
lower its interest rates and inject additional liquidity
into the economy, Hoover succumbed to growing domestic political pressure to reimpose fiscal discipline
on the federal government. Over the previous 4 years,
the U.S. Government had run up bills pursuing various measures to counter the impact of the depression,
totaling $900 million for the 1931 fiscal year budget.78
The democrats had even made balancing the budget
a central plank of the presidential election platform
in 1932. While the Revenue Act of 1932 proved to be
an extremely progressive tax bill, it also inarguably
raised taxes at exactly the wrong time to reinforce the
momentum for an economic recovery. Partly due to
Hoovers errors, we now know how difficult it is to
get the timing of a return to ordinary fiscal constraints
after a period of crisis: too late, and you have undermined confidence in the long-term viability of the
entire system; too early, and you have choked off the
recovery. Yet for all their folly, the new tax rates were
also left untouched throughout the New Deal period
and for many years thereafter.
Another more portentous choice was Hoovers
decision to continue to scale back U.S. security commitments to focus on the economic crises at home and
abroad, despite evidence of dramatic changes to key
elements of the existing post-war international securi-

102

ty architecture. Hoovers proposals at the World Disarmament Conference in 1932 were viewed by contemporaries as the product of political opportunism,
and as a potentially dangerous signal of reluctance.
While Secretary of State Henry Stimson recommended
a passive observational stance to an event for which
few outside the disarmament activist community
cherished any high ambitions, Hoover approached
the World Disarmament Conference in April 1932
as an opportunity for him to contribute both toward
the global good and the immediate economic relief of
European and American budgets. Hoover distributed
a rather audacious proposal: a one-third reduction
across all armed forces with the abolition of bombers,
tanks, large guns, chemical warfare, submarines and
battleships, and 25 percent of aircraft carriers.79 While
the proposal boosted conference morale and created a
flurry of publicity and political attention, it produced
little by way of material progress to the negotiations.
The disappointed Stimson observed it was:
a mistake and a proposition that cut pretty deep. . . .
But, really, so far as a practical proposition is concerned, to me it is just a proposal from Alice in Wonderland. It is no reality, but is just as bad as it can be in
its practical effect.80

While an unusual way of understanding a balance

of power, many military officials and policymakers
at the time viewed the credible fulfillment of treaty
terms, even under conditions of general disarmament
and military decline, as important. Even as the overall numbers declined, the balance could only be preserved if signatories were willing to build up to their
treaty-protected numbers.81 Far from restraining an
ambitious ship construction program, the disarma103

ment conferences under Hoover sought desperately

to push other nations to accelerate their own reductions as a way of minimizing the U.S. construction
program. By the end of Hoovers administration,
the United States was dangerously underfulfilling
its role in lowering the bar of the global balance in a
stable fashion.
On September 18, 1931, some brigades of Japanese troops decided covertly to provoke what was
later called the Mukden Incident, which provided
the excuse for the Japanese to seize Manchuria. Tied
up with fairly serious domestic problems, the United
States confined itself to declaring its outrage and hoping for the League of Nations to prove itself equal to
the occasion. However:
The Manchurian crisis had worldwide implications.
At stake was the survival of the series of postwar
agreements based on principles of law and morality
that successive Republican presidencies vowed would
take the place of the discredited prewar system of armaments, secret diplomacy, and recurrent wars.82

Secretary of State Stimson promulgated a declaration of nonrecognition of the belligerently acquired

territory, subsequently termed the Hoover-Stimson
Doctrine. The Japanese, not impressed by the international communitys protests, seized Shanghai on
January 28, 1932. Stimson recommended sanctions or
a show of force. Concerned that such actions would be
themselves both acts of belligerency and ineffective,
Hoover disagreed. He was later persuaded to assent
to a multilateral deployment of ships in the region
to protect the international settlement of Shanghai.
In failing to do more, some have argued that Hoover
signaled Americas lack of interest in maintaining sta104

bility in the rest of the world and opened the door to

new threats from rising, revisionist powers only a few
years later.
Hoovers strategy of disarmament and economy in
military expenditures was predicated on the continuation of the global trend of arms limitations, disarmament, and the disavowal of the use of force. For as
long as these trends continued, it allowed the United
States to benefit from its international influence and
economic engagement without incurring messy obligations. However, the Mukden Incident and the subsequent Japanese invasion and occupation of Manchuria undermined these assumptions. It became more
difficult to justify Hoovers minimalist interpretation
of U.S. security interests as largely being confined to
the Western Hemisphere. The gap between existing
American forces, and even their treaty-approved force
levels, became increasingly visible. The gap between
U.S. diplomatic support for international treaties, and
what they were willing to do to defend them became
more clearly apparent.83
While he perhaps understood it better than most
other individuals at the time, it is also not clear in retrospect whether Hoover grasped the essential nature
of the Depression crisis. Hoovers relentless drive to
try to save the gold standard at all costs in 1933 is revelatory of this partial blindness. Defensible in terms
of economic orthodoxy and even internationalism,
Hoovers vehement defense of the gold standard
flew in the face of what others were rapidly learning
through experience. Britains economy and finances
had rebounded with surprising strength following
their abandonment of the gold standard in 1931. Economists also credit Roosevelts far less justifiable lapse
from gold with reinvigorating the American economy

105

between 1933 and 1937. However, the gold standardmuch like the cooperative, the private relief
agency, and the extra-legal agreementswas a central
element of what Hoover thought had been most successful in his approach. A prisoner of his own success,
Hoover was unable to turn around and recognize the
gold standard as being the part of the problem, much
less its source.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS
There are those who have recently looked back to
Hoovers strategy of cooperative individualism and
independent internationalism and to the retrenchment strategy of the 1920s as a source of inspiration.
The approach, after all, embodied a radically different
vision of the relationship of the federal government
with both American society and the larger global community. Hoovers starting point was an extraordinarily rich, participatory community lifea community
life which many work toward today through their
participation in what many term civil society: those
forms of nongovernment activity and social organization, professional associations built around values and
self-regulation, the propagation of new codes of social
responsibility. There are also those who also more
recently might applaud his critique of international
interventionism, if not his skepticism of collective security and his unshakable belief in disarmament.
The Depression crisis of 1929-33 is not necessarily
a fair test of Hoovers strategy, but it nonetheless remains an important test. It is not fair because the crisis
was unprecedented in both scale and intensity at the
time, and remains so with the perspective of history.
It is also important to remember how primitive and

106

emergent the state of economic knowledge was at the

time. Yet, we must also understand that the objective
of the retrenchment strategy of the 1920s was not the
husbanding of resources in anticipation of a cyclical
change in conditions or taking up the matter of renewing Americas global position at some future date. The
objective of the Republican retrenchment strategy of
the 1920s was small government, full stop. By 1928,
that objective had largely been attained. A key factor
in the failure of the federal governments response to
the Great Depression between 1929 and 1933 was a
sheer lack of wherewithal in its budget, structure, and
capabilities to influence, much less counter, the meltdown of the economy and society occurring around
it. In short, small government proved insufficient to
this most terrible of tests.84 While Hoover himself
envisioned a more dynamic government response to
the natural cycles of the economy, he believed that a
more cooperative society of private endeavor, backed
with public support, would provide the necessary resilience to these cycles and changes in fortune. This
cooperative society did exist to an impressive degree
in 1928, but this too failed most spectacularly under
the extraordinary pressure of the crisis.
Finally, the aspiration of independent internationalism had its dark side as well. While the Good
Neighbor Policy highlights the positive elements of
international respect and disengagement, Hoovers
trade policies ultimately sacrificed internationalism
for the sake of independence. His embrace of protectionism, as a means of enhancing domestic selfsufficiency, growth, and lessening U.S. dependence,
backfired by providing the excuse other governments,
economically threatened by the growth of American
trade in the long-term and the Depression in the near

107

term, to abandon economic liberalism.85 The fragmentation of world trade into regional, national, and imperial blocs had a significant effect on the length and
speed of Americas economic recovery. Furthermore,
in focusing to such a degree on preserving independence of action, Hoover failed to make a positive case
to the American public as to why internationalism remained important.
By 1933, the bargain struck by the Republican retrenchment strategy of the 1920s and by Hoover had
crumbled under the force of the economic crisis. In
the years that followed, the United States (and indeed
most of the developed world) would follow a path of
more complete withdrawal, a retrenchment far more
radical than almost any experienced before, turning
inwards to focus on competing strategies for domestic renewal. In the same period, the balance between
disarmament, diplomacy, and the use of force, having
weakened dramatically through neglect, would come
unglued entirely, leaving the field open for powers whose strategies of domestic renewal required
aggressive expansion. It was only after conflict had
been joined by these revisionist forces that America
returned to take up a more active role in the international community, sending first money, then equipment, and finally soldiers down the paths blazed and
across the global networks built by an earlier generation of American businessmen and nongovernmental
organizations.

108

REFERENCES
Ahamed, Liaquat. Currency Wars, Then and Now: How Policymakers Can Avoid the Perils of the 1930s. Foreign Affairs, Vol.
90, No. 2, 2011, pp. 92-103.
____________. Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the
World. New York: Penguin Press, 2009.
Boyce, Robert W. D. The Great Interwar Crisis and the Collapse of
Globalization. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Brooks, Stephen G.; Ikenberry, G. John; and Wohlforth,
William C. Dont Come Home, America: The Case against
Retrenchment. International Security Vol. 37, No. 3, Winter
2012/13, pp. 7-51.
Burner, David. Herbert Hoover: A Public Life. 1st Atheneum Ed.
New York: Atheneum, 1984.
Clements, Kendrick. The Life of Herbert Hoover: Imperfect Visionary, 1918-1928. The Life of Herbert Hoover. Vol. 4, New York:
Palgrave, MacMillan, 2010.
Davies, Thomas R. The Possibilities of Transnational Activism:
The Campaign for Disarmament between the Two Wars. Boston, MA:
Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007.
Foster, Anne L. Projections of Power: The United States and Europe in Colonial Southeast Asia, 1919-1941. American Encounters/
Global Interactions. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010.
Hamilton, David. From New Day to New Deal: American Farm
Policy from Hoover to Roosevelt, 1928-1933. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
Hawley, Ellis Wayne. The Great War and the Search for a Modern
Order: A History of the American People and Their Institutions, 19171933. The St Martins Series in 20th-Century US History. 2nd Ed.
New York: St. Martins Press, 1992.

109

Hicks, John Donald. Republican Ascendancy, 1921-1933. The

New American Nation Series. 1st Ed. New York: Harper & Row,
Publishers, 1960.
Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition and the
Men Who Made It. New York: Vintage Books, 1954.
Hoover, Herbert. American Individualism. Garden City, NY:
Doubleday, Page & Company, 1922.
Iriye, Akira. The Globalizing of America, 1913-1945. The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations. Vol. 3, William
Cohen, ed., Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Irwin, Douglas. Peddling Protectionism: Smoot-Hawley and the
Great Depression. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011.
Kagan, Robert. Not Fade Away: The Myth of American Decline. The New Republic, January 11, 2012.
Kennedy, David M. Freedom from Fear: The American People in
Depression and War, 1929-1945. The Oxford History of the United
States. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Leffler, Melvyn P. The Elusive Quest: Americas Pursuit of European Stability and French Security, 1919-1933. Chapel Hill, NC:
University of North Carolina Press, 1979.
Louria, Margot. Triumph and Downfall: Americas Pursuit
of Peace and Prosperity, 1921-1933. Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 2001.
MacDonald, Paul K.; and Parent, Joseph M. Graceful Decline? The Surprising Success of Great Power Retrenchment. International Security, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2011, pp. 7-44.
Nash, George H. The Life of Herbert Hoover: Master of Emergencies, 1917-1918. The Life of Herbert Hoover. Vol. 3, 1996.
____________. The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer, 18741914. The Life of Herbert Hoover. Vol. 1, New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1983.

110

____________. The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian,

1914-1917. The Life of Herbert Hoover. Vol. 2, New York: W. W.
Norton & Co, 1988.
Rhodes, Benjamin D. United States Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period, 1918-1941: The Golden Age of American Diplomatic and
Military Complacency. Praeger Studies of Foreign Policies of the
Great Powers. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001.
Rosenberg, Emily S. Financial Missionaries to the World: The
Politics and Culture of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900-1930. American Encounters/Global Interactions. Durham, NC: Duke University
Press, 2003.
Shlaes, Amity. The Forgotten Man: A New History of the
Great Depression. 1st Harper Perennial Ed. New York: Harper
Perennial, 2008.
Wilson, Joan H. Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive. Library
of American Biography. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1975.
Wilson, John R. M. Herbert Hoover and the Armed Forces: A
Study of Presidential Attitudes and Policy. Dissertation. Chicago, IL:
Northwestern University, 1971.

ENDNOTES - CHAPTER 3
1. Paul K. MacDonald and Joseph M. Parent, Graceful Decline? The Surprising Success of Great Power Retrenchment, International Security, Vol. 35, No. 4, 2011, p. 11.
2. On the need for retrenchment, see Barry R. Posen, The
Case for Restraint, American Interest, Vol. 3, No. 1, November/
December 2008, pp. 7-17; Christopher Layne, From Preponderance to Offshore Balancing: Americas Future Grand Strategy,
International Security, Vol. 22, No. 1, Summer 1997, pp. 86-124,
among others.
3. On the need for renewal, see Robert Kagan, Not Fade
Away: The Myth of American Decline, The New Republic, Janu-

111

ary 11, 2012; G. John Ikenberry, Stephen G. Brooks, and William

C. Wohlforth, Dont Come Home, America: The Case against Retrenchment, International Security, Vol. 37, No. 3, among others.
4. Ellis Wayne Hawley, The Great War and the Search for a Modern Order: A History of the American People and Their Institutions,
1917-1933, 2nd Ed., The St Martins Series in 20th-Century US
History, New York: St. Martins Press, 1992, pp. 30-38.
5. John Donald Hicks, Republican Ascendancy, 1921-1933, 1st
Ed., The New American Nation Series, New York: Harper & Row,
Publishers, 1960, p. 23.
6. Hawley, p. 38.
7. Robert W. D. Boyce, The Great Interwar Crisis and the Collapse
of Globalization, Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009, p. 11.
8. Melvyn P. Leffler, The Elusive Quest: Americas Pursuit of European Stability and French Security, 1919-1933, Chapel Hill, NC:
University of North Carolina Press, 1979, pp. x, 79.
9. Benjamin D. Rhodes, United States Foreign Policy in the Interwar Period, 1918-1941: The Golden Age of American Diplomatic and
Military Complacency, Praeger Studies of Foreign Policies of the
Great Powers, Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001, p. 45.
10. Rhodes, p. 45.
11. David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People
in Depression and War, 1929-1945, The Oxford History of the United States, New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 78.
12. Quoted in ibid.
13. Liaquat Ahamed, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke
the World, New York: Penguin Press, 2009, pp. 13, 162-163.
14. Ibid., pp. 162-163.
15. Leffler, p. 26.

112

16. Ibid., pp. 62, 176.

17. Rhodes, p. 45.
18. Amity Shlaes, The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great
Depression, 1st Harper Perennial Ed., New York: Harper Perennial, 2008, p. 36.
19. Leffler, pp. 48-49.
20. Richard Hofstadter, The American Political Tradition and the
Men Who Made It, New York: Vintage Books, 1954, p. 379.
21. Akira Iriye, Vol. 3, William Cohen, ed., The Globalizing
of America, 1913-1945, The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press,
1993, p. 113.
22. Emily S. Rosenberg, Financial Missionaries to the World:
The Politics and Culture of Dollar Diplomacy, 1900-1930, American
Encounters/Global Interactions, Durham, NC: Duke University
Press, 2003, pp. 188-198; Rhodes, p. 45.
23. Shlaes, p. 38.
24. Leffler, pp. 23, 42.
25. Boyce, p. 11; Leffler, pp. 19, 79.
26. See George H. Nash, Vol. 1, The Life of Herbert Hoover,
The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer, 1874-1914, New York: W.
W. Norton & Co., 1983.
27. See also The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 19141917, Vol. 2, The Life of Herbert Hoover, New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 1988; The Life of Herbert Hoover: Master of Emergencies,
1917-1918, Vol. 3, The Life of Herbert Hoover, New York: W. W.
Norton & Co, 1996.
28. Hawley, p. 63.

113

29. See Kendrick Clements, The Life of Herbert Hoover: Imperfect

Visionary, 1918-1928, Vol 4, The Life of Herbert Hoover, New York:
Palgrave, MacMillan, 2010.
30. Herbert Hoover, American Individualism, Garden City:
Doubleday, Page & Company, 1922, pp. 9-10.
31. Ibid., p. 32.
32. Ibid., pp. 44-45.
33. Clements, p. 109.
34. Terms used respectively in Hawley, pp. 54-55; John R. M.
Wilson, Herbert Hoover and the Armed Forces: A Study of Presidential
Attitudes and Policy, Dissertation, Chicago, IL: Northwestern University, 1971, pp. i-ii.
35. David Hamilton, From New Day to New Deal: American
Farm Policy from Hoover to Roosevelt, 1928-1933, Chapel Hill, NC:
University of North Carolina Press, 1991, p. 32.
36. Quoted in Hofstadter, p. 387.
37. David Burner, Herbert Hoover: A Public Life, 1st Atheneum
Ed., New York: Atheneum, 1984, p. 238.
38. Quoted in Clements, p. 198.
39. Anne L. Foster, Projections of Power: The United States and
Europe in Colonial Southeast Asia, 1919-1941, American Encounters/Global Interactions, Durham, NC: Duke University Press,
2010; Clements, p. 4.
40. Quoted in Joan H. Wilson, Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive, Library of American Biography, Boston, MA: Little,
Brown, 1975, p. 48; Nash, p. 1.
41. The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 1914-1917,
p. 293-294.

114

42. Shlaes, p. 18.

43. Hawley, p. 84.
44. Douglas Irwin, Peddling Protectionism: Smoot Hawley and
the Great Depression, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press,
2011, pp. 16-17.
45. Leffler, p. 194.
46. Quoted in Burner, p. 286.
47. John R. M. Wilson, p. 175.
48. Ibid., pp. 182-192.
49. Ibid., p. 11.
50. Hamilton, p. 37.
51. Irwin, p. 7.
52. Ibid., p. 105.
53. Ibid.
54. Burner, p. 248.
55. Hofstadter, pp. 392-393.
56. Kennedy, p. 57.
57. Burner, pp. 248-252.
58. Ibid., p. 263.
59. Hawley, p. 173.
60. Burner, pp. 267-268.
61. Ibid., pp. 265-270.

115

62. Shlaes, p. 103; Kennedy, p. 66.

63. Ahamed, Lords of Finance, p. 453; Boyce, pp. 300-304.
64. Quoted in Lords of Finance, p. 383.
65. Quoted in Kennedy, p. 76.
66. Shlaes, pp. 90-91.
67. Kennedy, p. 85.
68. Ibid., pp. 83-84.
69. Ibid., p. 85.
70. Shlaes, p. 117.
71. Burner, pp. 276-277.
72. Hawley, p. 197.
73. Leffler, pp. 312-313.
74. Iriye, p. 141.
75. Vol. 3, The Globalizing of America, 1913-1945, p. 129.
76. Liaquat Ahamed, Currency Wars, Then and Now: How
Policymakers Can Avoid the Perils of the 1930s, Foreign Affairs,
Vol. 90, No. 2, 2011.
77. J. H. Wilson, pp. 210-216.
78. Burner, pp. 280-282.
79. John R. M. Wilson, pp. 195-196.
80. Thomas R. Davies, The Possibilities of Transnational Activism: The Campaign for Disarmament between the Two Wars, Boston,
MA: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2007, p. 127.

116

81. John R. M. Wilson, p. 69.

82. Margot Louria, Triumph and Downfall: Americas Pursuit of
Peace and Prosperity, 1921-1933, Westport, CT: Greenwood Press,
2001, p. 183.
83. John R. M. Wilson, pp. 9-10.
84. Kennedy, p. 55.
85. Irwin, pp. 164-180.

117

CHAPTER 4
STRATEGIC CALCULATIONS IN TIMES
OF AUSTERITY:
RICHARD NIXON
Megan Reiss
Richard Nixon entered the presidency with constrained resources because America was in financial,
political, and cultural turmoil. Because of the understanding that the United States would be most effective when placing its resources in areas of greatest strategic importance, Nixon developed a dtente strategy
for containing the Soviets, which achieved significant
successes. Austerity focused goal creation, which led
to opportunities. The main tenets of dtente include
a decision to negotiate with the Soviets, a calculation
to link goals, a decision to open China, and the development of the Nixon Doctrine. After assessing that
the Vietnam War was a result of poor strategic decisionmaking and overextension of resources, Nixon
and Henry Kissinger developed the Nixon Doctrine to
consolidate resources in areas of greatest strategic importance. The failures of the Nixon presidency came
from a muddled hierarchy of application of dtente
strategies, failures to recognize and develop goals for
areas of strategic importance, an overemphasis on
credibility, and an overconcentration of power in the
chief executive.

119

RICHARD NIXONS PRESIDENTIAL

ENTRANCE: SALIENT PROBLEMS
The year of the unsettled giant was 1968; American
domestic and international policies were in turmoil.
Starting in 1965, public opinion polls started showing a disturbing trend: Americans were losing faith
in their government, their military, and their political leaders.1 The American public was so shocked by
the abilities of the Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive
that support for the Vietnam War, and the President,
waned. President Lyndon Johnson chose not to run
for reelection. Race riots in 130 cities followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.2 Inflation rose 4
percent from the previous year (and 12 percent since
1964).3 Johnson and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) agreed to begin talks on limitations of
ballistic missile defense and nuclear weapons delivery
systems, but the August 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia halted the plans for negotiations. Nixon won
the majority of the popular vote for President by only
a little over 500,000 votes.4 With this slim margin of
political support, Nixon took office with a country divided not only by political party, but by economics,
race, and war.
Nixon famously created a partnership with Henry
Kissinger, first as the National Security Advisor and
later as the Secretary of State, and together Nixon and
Kissinger devised a series of strategies to bring the
country out of its ongoing turmoil. Kissingers goals
in shaping strategic policy were premised on the view
that in the previous administrations, the debate has
concentrated on our commitments and not our interests. It is really our interests that should get us involved,
not our commitments.5 The principle strategy of the

120

Nixon administration thus became the preservation of

the balance of power and order, while taking actions
which align with Americas strategic interests and recognizing the Soviets as the primary threat to America.6
Nixon and Kissinger actively worked to concentrate
power in the executive branch so as to best deal with
the turmoil, consistently returning to the strategy of
balancing while pursuing American interests as they
saw fit. While the difficult times provided for different methods and options than a prosperity president,
Nixon used his time as President to work toward the
ultimate goal of successfully containing the Soviet
Union through the methods he saw fit. Nixon had
the choice: must the United States retrench, or could
it fight austerity? Ultimately, although Nixons obsession with power and credibility weakened his ability
to accomplish goals, the Nixon presidency faced the
times of austerity as an opportunity to focus goals and
steer the course of American history.
Defining the Terms.
Nixon entered his presidency with the assumption
that before a President formats the details of a strategy, he needs first to assess the goals of the strategy.
This observation is not as obvious as one may posit;
notably, during the Johnson and John Kennedy administrations, the purpose of policy was sometimes
not the end goal but the policy process. In the policy
process, strategy becomes:
the calculated relationship of ends and means . . .
where calculations become more important than relationships being calculated, where means attract
greater attentions than ends-then what one has is not
so much bad strategy as no strategy at all.7
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Nixon wished to turn that trend back to a focused calculation of end goals, because by creating goals and
assessing and reassessing the reasons for actions, the
United States would avoid wasting its resources in areas where it did not intend to get involved.
Nixons goal assessments began with the premise
that the military strategy for Vietnam did not align
with Johnsons goal of unconditional negotiations.
In effect, the military acted as a bureaucratic entity
which enacted a plan without incorporating clear
goals or significant readjustments as needed, leading Kissinger to observe that strategy divorced from
foreign policy proved sterile.8 The reality of conflict
did not reflect the assertion of benchmarks for negotiations. The Nixon administration instead worked to
create operational meanings for goals like superiority
and stability.
Even with the purported necessity to define terms
for strategy making, Kissinger is criticized by authors
for setting out lofty goals without giving clear guidance on how to reach them.9 The Vietnam conflict highlights the difficulty in shifting goals and actions from
a previous administration. Nixon and Kissinger campaigned for the United States to leave Vietnam with
dignity, while maintaining U.S. credibility abroad.
In a worst-case scenario, loss of American credibility could lead to global totalitarianism and would
equate to giving the Soviet leaders a blank check
for expansionism. In fact, during this period, there
was resurgence in Soviet thought to be in the Kremlin for increased Soviet activity abroad, countering
the domestic retrenchment that took place beginning
in 1965.10 However, much of the fear of losing credibility was rooted in psychological, not real, threats.

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What is more, perceptions of leaving with dignity was

also rooted in domestic perceptions. Dignity could
only be achieved through an agreement that would
allow them to save face so that the American military deaths would not be in vain. The goal for exiting Vietnam was not to exit due to goal attainment of
on-the-ground circumstances, but to exit when public
perceptions aligned so the United States could maximize its perceived power and so Nixon could maximize his perceived power. The psychological aspect of
understanding threats in this Cold War era made goal
definition difficult during the Nixon era.
Kissinger, despite the image as a visionary, did not
imagine a world beyond the Soviet-U.S. competition.
However, despite failures in establishing goals with
operational meanings or seeing beyond the status quo
competition as it existed, the Nixon-Kissinger partnership did successfully achieve strategic foreign policy
objectives by defining their objectives for dtente, and
those successes were rooted in a definition of goals.
Nixon and Dtente.
Nixon and Kissingers strategy for containing the
USSR moved from the principle of flexible response
(tactical flexibility, especially with regards to nuclear
weapons) as described under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations to the principle of dtente. Dtente
(as understood by the administration) was a strategy
of containing the Soviets through the variety of tools
at the presidents disposal with the goal of convincing Kremlin leaders that it was in their countrys best
interest to be contained.11
John Lewis Gaddis describes the implementation
of dtente as a four-pronged approached: First, the

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United States would engage the USSR in negotiations,

and in the process, discard the outdated notions that
the United States should wait until it regained the
relative strength it had in comparison to the Soviets
in the 1950s. The decision to negotiate could not and
would not be seen as a weakness.12
The second aspect of dtente was to shape Soviet
behavior through the concept linkage, allowing the
administration to link negotiations in one area, such
as economics, to an unrelated area.13 This strategy was
based on Nixons assumption that since U.S.-Soviet
interests as the worlds two competing nuclear superpowers were so widespread and overlapping, it was
unrealistic to separate or compartmentalize areas of
concern.14 Kissinger argued that allowing the Soviets
to get what they want in one arena should depend on
the good behavior that they follow in another. In
Nixons first press conference about Strategic Arms
Limitation Talks (SALT I), he envisioned strategic
arms talks in a way and at a time that will promote,
if possible, progress on outstanding political problems at the same time.15 Through this process, weapons systems negotiations could be linked to settling
the Berlin problem. Linkage, effectively, enlarged
the scope of elements which could be traded in an
international bargain.16
The third aspect of dtente was to open ties with
China in order to further pressure the USSR.17 Nixons
decisionmaking regarding China aligned with Kissingers philosophy that, in the triangular diplomacy
between the Americans, the Soviets, and the Chinese,
the United States should align with the weakest entity
and prevent the USSR and China from forming an alliance that would alter the global balance of power.18
Additionally, by recognizing China, the United States

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could conserve the diplomatic resources being spent

on pressuring other countries from giving recognition
to China.19
The final part of Nixons strategy became known
as the Nixon Doctrine: The United States would phase
out of commitments in the world which did not align
with U.S. strategic interests.20 This doctrine was controversial for allies because there was, and remained,
an expectation by American allies, especially Americas European allies, that the United States would
serve as a protector. America found itself in a position
of being the protector for half the worlds nations, and
those states wanted and needed American security
guarantees. Nixon and Kissinger recognized the reason for U.S. involvement in places such as Vietnam,
with Kissinger stating that:
conflicts among states merge with division within
nations; the dividing line between domestic and foreign policy begins to disappear . . . [so that] states
feel threatened not only by the foreign policy of other
countries but also . . . by domestic transformations.21

However, they recognized that strategic calculations, not overblown threats, must steer U.S. policy.
The Nixon Doctrine became a template for understanding how to balance obligations to half the world
with pursuing interests of prime importance to America. The United States vowed to keep all its treaty
commitments and provide a shield if a nuclear
power threatens the freedom of a nation allied with
us or a nation whose survival we consider vital to
our security.22 However, if an ally was threatened or
attacked with conventional forces, the United States
would react with economic and military assistance
but require the ally to take the majority of the respon125

sibility in providing soldiers to protect the threatened

or attacked nation. Nixon thus attempted to reassure
allies that the United States would continue to honor
its commitments and protect nervous European allies,
especially through its military and nuclear weapons.
However, Nixon publicly required American allies to
take on part of the burden of their own defense.
The execution of these four points of Nixons dtente strategy shows certain flaws. For instance, the
Nixon Doctrine plus years of a badly mangled war led
to the January 1973 Paris Peace Accords agreement to
let the U.S. exit from Vietnam. The signing resulted in
the fulfillment of the Nixon Doctrines goal of reigning in an overextended United States, but it left the
international community unsure of the strength of an
American alliance. Additionally, the Nixon Doctrine
was sometimes viewed as an excuse to follow the
most politically palatable course of action by exiting
Vietnam without bringing peace.23 The Nobel Prize
awarded jointly to Kissinger and his North Vietnamese counterpart, Le Duc Tho, was rejected by Le Duc
Tho because he insisted that there was no peace yet.
When the United States exited, it left in its wake a
South Vietnam plunged into recession with the lost
revenue from the American military. With American
aid cut off by Congress in 1975, the South Vietnamese
were left still fighting a war with the North Vietnamese until they were overrun by the North.24 In practice, Congress followed the Nixon Doctrine, so that by
1975 Congress simply did not believe the future of
Vietnam was very important to the United States.25
Though the war ended with a general fulfillment
of the Nixon Doctrine, an unsavory message can be
gleaned from the end of the war: When a region is no
longer vital, the United States may simply discard an
ally and remove aid.26
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The Nixon Doctrine, simple to describe, did not

always lead to obvious conclusions about deciding
Americas strategic interests now and especially in the
future. Domestic politics and personal political goals
tended to interfere with pure strategic foreign policy
goals. For instance, in 1970, due to emerging political circumstances at home and abroad such as crime,
busing, international terrorism, and mistreatment of
Soviet Jews, the traditional Democratic allegiance of
the Jewish population was cracking.27 Nixon started to
see support of Israel as a potentially important part of
getting him reelected in 1972. When the Arab-Israeli
War broke out in 1973, Kissinger wanted to keep Israel
from returning territory gained in the 1967 conflict in
order to prevent Soviet allies from gaining rewards
from the war, and worked toward that end. He also
worked to prevent strains on the American-Israeli relationship.28 Nixon and Kissinger failed to see the future consequences of angering the Arab populations.
A combination of political calculations for his reelection and calculations about preventing Soviet gains
led to an Israel policy which strengthened the U.S.
commitment to Israel rather than producing a more
flexible strategy for the future.
Finally, the complexity of foreign affairs did not
always permit a clear application of Nixon and Kissingers dtente strategies, leading to the failures and
over-assumption of threats that repeatedly plagued
Cold War Presidents. For instance, although he was
neutral publicly, Nixon sent arms to Pakistan in 1971
to help the Pakistani army suppress the secessionist
movement of East Pakistan (Bangladesh).29 The actions
of the Pakistani army caused a massive refugee flow
into India and horrible human rights violations. The
Bangladeshis were supported by Indians, and the In-

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dians had an Indo-Soviet Treaty of Peace, Friendship,

and Cooperation from August 1971.30 The action was
thus viewed through an anti-Soviet expansion lens,
despite the weakness of the Indian-Soviet partnership.31 The United States did calculate that, because of
the China-Pakistan alliance, supporting the Pakistanis
would help with opening China. However, the support also created a further tilt away from the Indians,
which effectively helped widen a rift with India, while
forging ties with China.32
With the massive human rights violations and
public disapproval stemming from a publicity blitz
originating with the likes of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and the Beatles George Harrison, the U.S. support
of Pakistan became an embarrassment to the United
States.33 In private, while Nixon disapproved of Pakistani leader Yahya Khan, he expressed anger with the
Indians for the conflict, saying The Indians put on
this sanctimonious, peace, Gandhi-like, Christ-like attitude (like) theyre the greatest, the worlds biggest
democracy and Pakistan is one of the most horrible
dictatorships and that Indias hands are not clean.
Theyre caught in a bloody bit of aggression.34 Yet,
Nixon could not regain public support for his Pakistan policy, and Congress passed a bill to ban the sale
of arms to the Pakistani army. Eventually, the Pakistanis were defeated.35 The United States went on to
recognize the state of Bangladesh on April 4, 1972.36
The Bangladesh conflict highlights the potential discrepancies of dtente strategy since one element could
conflict with another, and the only basis of hierarchy
rests in the recognition that any actions must work to
contain the supreme threat of the Soviets. In the conflict, the United States focused on containing the Soviets and siding with the Chinese. However, the United

128

States overestimated the impact it could have in the

conflict and did not adhere to the Nixon Doctrine,
eventually coming out on the wrong side of history by
siding with Pakistan and its human rights violations.
NIXON AND THE DECLINE OF
AMERICAN POWER
The United States maintained the largest proportion of power in the world while Nixon was president,
but perceptions of losing power grew. Between 1960
and 1970, Americans watched the Soviet economy expand to roughly half the size of the American economy,
although growth rates declined over the decade. Some
measures of world power showed a Soviet decline
from 17 percent to 13 percent of world power during
that decade. On the other hand, the United States saw
its share of world power only decline from 22 percent to 21 percent over the same time period.37 Alongside concerns of the loss of power were concerns, even
obsessions, over perceptions of credibility: Could the
United States act on its own or on behalf of its allies
when necessary? Thus, while the United States was
not facing a serious decline in power, it witnessed
an increase in Soviet economic capabilities despite
a decrease in relative Soviet power. Authors such as
Jonathan Schell argue that, during this time period,
credibility and perceptions of power ruled American
foreign policy. He claimed that:
from January of 1961, when John Kennedy took office,
until August of 1974, when Richard Nixon was forced
to leave office, the unvarying dominant goal of the foreign policy of the United States was the preservation
of what policymakers throughout the period called
the credibility of American power.38

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Speculations about where the power trends would

lead forced the United States to face the prospect of
evolving great power status, with Kissinger arguing
that when bipolarity ends, multipolarity will be reestablished. Thus, the Nixons presidency focused heavily on preserving American power and credibility,
even when it led to consequences such as prolonging
the Vietnam War.
Despite the continued preponderance of U.S.
power, the United States was particularly sensitive to
real and perceived losses of relative power during the
Nixon era. This was rooted in some actual corrosion
of nuclear and economic power dominance. Notably,
Nixon focused on nuclear power as central to his strategic calculations but gave only limited attention to
the economy, using primarily political (as compared
to broad strategic) calculations to make economic decisions. Nixon seemed to view American credibility in
action primarily through a military, as compared to an
economic, lens.
Maintaining superiority in nuclear missiles, both in
number and technology, was a consistent concern for
Cold War Presidents. Although it was Kennedy who
ran for President with the determination to close the
missile gap between the United States and the USSR (a
gap which he discovered did not exist),39 it wasnt until 1965 and 1966 that the Soviets started to approach
the strength of U.S. strategic forces.40 The missile gap
became a reality when the USSR overtook the United
States in production of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The gap in ICBMs, which was only one
aspect of the nuclear race, did not equate to American decline. However, when coupled with domestic
and external strife, the United States faced a shrinking
power separation between the two superpowers.

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Nixon faced the shrinking power gap through

strength and diplomacy, not only because this was the
best course of action for the United States, but because
he believed that this was the only position the Soviets
would respect. Even though the loss of an overwhelming position of strength could have been a detriment to
the United States, it actually became an asset because
the Soviets were more willing to negotiate when they
would not be locked into a vastly inferior treaty-based
position as a result of negotiations. Nixons calculations for negotiations are well reflected in the process
of the SALT I negotiations.
During the Nixon years, U.S. and USSR strategic
weapons systems were asymmetrical, with the USSR
overtaking the United States in numbers of landbased ICBMs by 1972, but this asymmetry reflected
a change of technologies, not systemic American decline.41 The Soviets increased their ICBMs from 1,000
to 1,500 from 1969-72, while the number of American
ICBMs remained stagnant at 1,054.42 However, when
the United States stopped additional deployments
of the strategic ICBMs in 1967, it turned instead to a
system designed to inflict maximum damage from
a single missile. The United States began employing
multiple independently-targeted re-entry vehicles
(MIRVs) which allowed a single missile to carry multiple warheads that could be sent to different targets.43
The United States also held more long-range bombers
than the Soviets, and had plans to increase the number of anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defense systems to
counter the Soviet threat. Development of weapons
systems highlighted a missile gap less as a reflection
of American decline and more of the shifting macabre
calculations of nuclear weapons systems.

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On the very first day of the Nixon presidency, the

Soviet Foreign Ministry extended a note probing the
Presidents willingness to discuss arms limitations,
and Nixon immediately expressed support for the
proposition.44 The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
(SALT I) started in Helsinki, Finland, in November
1969.45 Notably, the discussions were private, allowing the negotiators to discuss candidly what they
wanted. Private discussions hold the advantage of
avoiding the trap of forcing negotiators to hold tight
to government proclamations, and allow the results to
be framed in a politically palpable manner when they
are later presented to the public. Private discussions
also concentrate power in the presidency and prevent
the debate for nuances of well-versed advisers.
The difficulties of SALT I negotiations flowed from
the same calculations which led to the asymmetry of
weapons systems. The negotiations started with Soviets wanting to first define strategic weapons to best
fit their aims. The United States needed to maintain its
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and other
allied commitments, and thus had a variety of weapons capable of reaching the USSR located on ships
or on European territory. When the USSR proposed
to define strategic as weapons capable of reaching
home territory, the limitations negotiated on strategic
weapons would mean that those weapons on aircraft
carriers and in Europe would be vulnerable to limitations through the talks.46 However, the short- and
mid-range Soviet weapons which could reach Europe
but not make it across the ocean to the United States
would not be subject to limitations. Clearly, this beginning stance was untenable for the United States, and
was promptly rejected.47 The talks would not place the
United States in an inferior position.

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For 2 years, the talks continued, with different

amalgamations of proposals, including a call for limitations of ABMs by the Soviets and calls to limit offensive weapons by the Americans. Nixon and Kissinger
insisted on linking offensive to defensive systems,
despite the Soviet preference for discussions only on
the defensive ABMs.48 SALT I was in a virtual deadlock when Kissinger and his back channel diplomacy
stepped in to keep SALT from collapsing.49 Congressional opponents to the administration were supporting
the ABM, defensive system-only negotiation, which
Nixon thought would place American negotiators in
an inferior position. His assessment that the Soviets
would only negotiate from a position of strength, and
thus the Americans must do the same, successfully led
to the agreement in May 1971 that the United States
and the USSR would concentrate talks on limiting
ABMs and offensive systems. In the case of SALT I, the
backchannel concentration of power led to success by
avoiding the pitfalls of an overextended conversation.
Finally, on May 26, 1972, Nixon and General Secretary
Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty, as well as
the Interim Agreement and Protocol on Limitation of
Strategic Offensive Weapons.50 The ABM Treaty went
into effect for unlimited duration, limiting each state
to employ ABMs at only one site which could launch
100 interceptor missiles. The Interim Agreement had a
5-year time limit while negotiations continued, but in
the meantime froze the number of ICBMs and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). During the
5 years, negotiations would continue, assuring that
Kissinger could continue working for the best possible
settlement on offensive weapons.
SALT I was a shining point for public relations and
the Nixon presidency. He engaged in negotiations

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and concluded a treaty with the Soviets, he executed

his strategy of linkage, and he successfully funneled
negotiations to focus on the areas of greatest strategic
importance to the United States. He also stood strong
in the face of Soviet negotiators and American doves,
and the agreement was the better for it. SALT I was
only possible because of the willingness of the Nixon
team to negotiate with Americas greatest adversary
and through a true understanding of the positions of
both sides and a willingness to accept the strategic necessities of the Soviets. The United States negotiated
from a position of power but accepted the power of
the Soviets.
In contrast to the successes of Nixons strategy for
SALT, his failures as an economic President are rooted heavily in his lack of a strategy for the economy.
Though in the general policy world the belief that
America was losing power was premised not just on
the faulty assumptions of the U.S. failure to compete
with the USSR militarily but also on the faltering of
the U.S. economy, the Nixon presidency did not focus on the U.S. economic states as the driving force
for American power and credibility. Nixon focused
his goals as President primarily on foreign affairs and
imagining the multipolar world that would result
from his dtente strategies. However, Nixons view of
the economy kept his outlook anchored firmly in the
near future. He wished to grow the economy and keep
citizens working in order to maintain his office and
allow him to continue involvement in foreign affairs.
Although Nixon firmly associated with the Republican Party, he did not hold the party line when it came
to economic policy. For instance, in 1969, when Budget Director Robert Mayo pushed Nixon for drastic
cuts to the budget, Nixon agreed only to small cuts

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to prevent causing a recession or alienating voters.51 A

notable exception to Nixons aversion to drastic cuts
affected the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin
took Apollo 11 to the moon on July 20, 1969.52 Nixon
is described as holding a keen understanding of the
boost in prestige for America, and its space program,
received through this historic event.53 However, the
following year, Nixon stated that space expenditures
must take their proper place within a rigorous system
of national priorities, and oversaw a drop in NASAs
budget from 4 percent to 1 percent of the federal budget by the time he left office, where it has stayed ever
since.54 Nixons response to NASA and the moon landing fell squarely within his strategy of placing proper
emphasis on American interests, and, in the process of
cutting funding to the program, he effectively placed
a value judgment that the power gained from NASA
successes is not a key interest.
Nixon brought the conservative Democrat John
Connally, Jr., into the cabinet as Secretary of the Treasury at the end of 1970. Although Connally was not
an economist or a banker, Nixon calculated that the
Democrat could help Nixon gain support among the
Southern Democrats and potentially run as Nixons
vice president in the next election.55 Connally eventually worked to get rid of gradualism, a policy advocated by Paul McCracken and George Shultz, which
theoretically gets rid of inflation slowly while maintaining politically palatable levels of unemployment.
Economic improvement was not swift in the early
years of Nixons presidency, and he worried about the
1972 election. Unemployment grew from 3.4 percent
in January 1969 to 6.1 percent in December 1970. Nixon and Connally abandoned gradualism and turned

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to spending and price controls, a politically palatable

move with fast economic gains.56 Nixon did so without
broadly consulting with advisers, including Schultz.
By late summer of 1972, unemployment crept back
down, hovering around 5.7 percent.57 The decision to
support Connally highlighted Nixons preference for
political goals over economics and foreshadowed his
future failures to put in place people and policies to
lead the economy for the long term.
Nixons most notable act in his economic presidency was the single-handed reshaping of the international monetary system when, on August 15, 1971,
Nixon controversially announced that the United
States would entirely remove itself from the gold standard during an episode of the television program, Bonanza.58 Since the Eisenhower administration, economists and Presidents alike worried that, because the
United States ran a deficit with dollars held by countries outside the United States through the Bretton
Woods system, any sudden run on the dollar could
create a scenario whereby the United States would
not be able to pay out gold for the dollars. The system
made the U.S. inherently vulnerable.59 In order to prevent a disaster scenario, an emergency cabinet study
during December 1967 concluded that the best way to
prevent a run on the dollar was that the United States
would have to implement border taxes, export subsidies, travel taxes, and a variety of other measures to
reduce the deficit. The result looked like a dangerous
turn to isolationism for the United States and a turn
away from Americas laudatory free trade policies.60
In 1968, President Johnson introduced a balance of
payments system to offset American deficits. Milton
Friedman harshly criticized the program:

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The United States . . . prohibits its businessmen from

investing abroad. . . . The United States, the wealthiest
nation in the world, announces that its foreign policy
will no longer be determined by its national interest
and its international commitments but by the need to
reduce spending abroad by $500 million.61

The economic problem of the gold standard fell

squarely into the Nixon goals of focusing on the areas of greatest strategic importance to America. Key
among the abilities to maintain U.S. policy interests
abroad was the stationing of six army divisions in West
Germany, a military placement central to containing
the USSR.62 The balance of payments process made
bringing those troops home increasingly attractive financially, but the act would undermine NATOs strategy in facing down the Soviets. The boons of Nixons
New Economic Policy and going off the gold standard
in 1971 included the increased flexibility of the Federal
Reserve to print money in response to crisis situations.
The United States would no longer feel pressured by
the potential impact of a collective decision to turn in
dollars for gold, and the subsequent national security
consequences which would follow. What is more,
with the Smithsonian Agreement of December 1971
whereby the Group of Ten finance ministers agreed to
increase the price of their currency against the dollar
to help with American deficits, the United States had
temporary relief in easing its deficit.63
In the election year of 1972, Nixon turned away
from his spending program designed to jump-start
the economy and his policies of implementing price
controls to Republican frugality. This transition was
designed so that he could depict himself as the very
antithesis of the spendthrift Democrat against whom
he would run.64 Since the economic problems of un137

employment and inflation looked under control, he

steered the reelection debate to reduce the emphasis
on the economy (and his record on the economy) in
the election. He was reelected with 60 percent of the
popular vote and the majority in every state except
Massachusetts.65 Nixons economic decisions, motivated by future political calculations, paid off. He
retained office, assuring future opportunities to continue his work in foreign affairs.
The success in the election did not lead to success
in the economy and did not lead to a historical understanding of Nixon as a successful economic President.
The price controls helped push an increased demand
in raw materials, pushing up prices. Coupled with a
worldwide food commodity shortage, inflation skyrocketed.66 American demand for energy increased
by 5 percent in 1972, while supply diminished.67 In
response to American support for Israelis in the Yom
Kippur War of 1973, the Saudis implemented an oil
embargo, exacerbating the energy crisis.68 Nixons
economic decisions based primarily in political calculations led not to a solid, coherent policy, but to a
piecemeal policy subject to reversals. The calculations to take the United States off the gold standard
was an anomaly in the ledger of the Nixon economic
presidency. In the realm of the economy, Nixon did
not lead, but was led. The Nixon presidency shows
that, while the economy can lead to short-term political gains, a piecemeal strategy defined by producing
those short-term gains is unlikely to lead to a strong
American economy in the long term.
Finally, the power calculation made during
Nixons time revolved around Americas future great
power status. Statesmen including Kissinger were
predicting the coming end to the existing great power

138

structure in foreign relations. At the time, predictions centered on the eventual collapse of bipolarity
and the potential repercussions of collapse. Kissinger
conceived the possibility that, despite the remaining
overwhelming military strength that the United
States will maintain regardless of the change of great
power status of other states, the United States will
have to evoke the creativity of a pluralistic world in
the sense that political multipolarity makes it impossible to impose an American design on international
institutions or the domestic institutions of developing
states.69 The power calculations of multipolarity were,
in fact, predictions of austerity of power, predictions
which did not have immediately actionable results,
but predictions which weighed heavy nonetheless.
Nixon In China.
A Presidents credibility may be determined both
by past and current performance as well as by the history of the Presidents political party on a given issue.
Neustadt argues political reputation and public approval are like a resource that is later spent when a
President makes a decision.70 Amassed political capital
can allow a President to execute decisions that work
against type; for instance, in the case of a President
with political capital built up as a staunch anti-communist, the President may be given leeway by both
the political establishment and the public in working
with communists without massive political backlash
or accusations of working with the enemy.71
When Nixon came into office, he was known not
just in political circles but in the general public as a
staunch anti-communist, being described by Stephen
Ambrose as the worlds best known anti-commu-

139

nist.72 After being awakened to the threat of communism with the Soviet takeover of Hungary in 1947
and Czechoslovakia in 1948, Nixon began to view the
USSR as the penultimate enemy to freedom.73 Nixons
time in Congress included a stint on the House UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC), the committee charged by Congress to investigate real and
suspected communists, where he drafted legislation
requiring American communists to register publicly
and give the source of all their printed materials,
which could then be investigated.74 Nixons time on
the HUAC allowed him to cultivate the image of an
anti-communist, effectively removing criticism that he
could be soft on communism.
What Nixons political capital as an anti-communist allowed him to do was to open China without
being labeled by American analysts as a communist
sympathizer. China was ready to reenter the international community after the end of its isolation after
the Great Cultural Revolution, and Nixon saw this as
an opportunity.75 In addition, the articulation of the
Nixon Doctrine at Guam publicized implicit administration affirmation of the principle that alliances and
alignments were inherently conditional and subject to
continued evaluation and adjustment.76 The capital
of a President and the articulation of a policy allowed
for a shifting U.S. policy, and in 1970, Nixon and Kissinger first established back-channel communication
with China to test the waters of creating a relationship with Beijing, with Kissinger taking a secret trip to
China in 1971.77
While Kissinger often takes equal credit for the
development and execution of Nixons foreign policy
successes, Nixons goals for American relations with
China predate the Nixon-Kissinger partnership. The

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ability to move quickly to change the U.S. policy toward a communist state stemmed from an already implanted seed in Nixon about the potential significance
of Asia: Nixons interest in China was partially based
on a personal interest in Asia shaped by travels to the
region. Asia was a part of Nixons vision for what the
world could look like when it moved beyond the stagnant bipolarity of the Cold War. Nixon first visited
Asia in 1953, and repeated trips sparked a belief that
this area of the world would become an increasingly
pivotal area of American interest.78 He took multiple
trips to the region, often spending only 1 to 4 days
in a country. However, despite these short periods
of exposure, he personally experienced the economic
and cultural transformations taking place. Nixon not
only read about, but saw the astounding growth rates
of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore,
and Malaysia, and saw them as great opportunities for
the United States. Perhaps it was this exposure that
helped him articulate in a 1967 Foreign Affairs article
the forward thinking idea that, despite the criticism
levied at Asians for being too different to become a
central focus of American concern, this criticism was
racial and cultural chauvinism that [did] little credit
to American ideals, and it [showed] little appreciation
either of the westward thrust of American interests or
of the dynamics of world development.79 The United
States would need to see strategic interest in the continent which holds half of all the people in the world.
He went on to argue that the long-term U.S. policy
goal toward China must be to bring China into the
family of nations and in the short term to discourage
imperial ambitions and foreign adventuring and
turn instead to the solution of its own domestic problems.80 The United States could not afford to allow

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China to be, self-exiled from society, stay exiled forever.81 Finally, he argued that the race for Asia was
between the United States, the USSR, and China. This
vision laid the foundation for Nixons power move to
open China.
Opening China also fit clearly into the Nixon strategy of reassessing the major centers of American interest. He assessed that the USSR would consider it
a failure if China and the United States align, and the
USSR remain the prime U.S. adversary.82 However,
the idea of the United States and Asia holds a central
U.S. interest in its own right. After assuming the presidency, Nixon secretly directed the National Security
Council to study the implications of alternative policies toward China, and directed Kissinger to broach
the topic of rapprochement.83 In a pivotal discussion
in Guam in July 1969, Nixon articulated his reasoning
for moving toward Asia and laid the foundation for
building political capital for the eventual move of reestablishing relations with China. Contrary to the Eurocentric tendencies of many Americans, Nixon argued
that Asia could potentially pose the greatest threat to
peace 20 years down the line.84 He based this assertion
on a quick read of history: World War II started (for
the United States) in the Pacific, and the Korean and
Vietnam Wars were among the points of the most intense conflicts for America in the 20th century. While
he argued that America must retain a strong presence,
he pointed to two changes in the region that should
affect American policy. The first was that nationalism
and regional pride surged since his first visit in 1953,
and the second was the growing belief that Asians do
not want America to dictate its policies. Thus, Nixon
argued that we should assist, but we should not dictate.85 Finally, he argued again that America should

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develop a better understanding of its strategic interests and avoid getting dragged into long, protracted,
and generally peripheral conflicts like that in Vietnam.
Opening China in February 1972, normalizing relations with the most populous country in the world,
is one of the most lauded accomplishments of the Nixon presidency. This particular emphasis on China was
not solely a continuation of the 1899 Open Door Policy
toward Asia designed to open Asia to American trade,
but as a key security element in Asia. Nixon, like
many Presidents before him, saw China as a potentially huge boon for both American and Chinese trade.
Nixon and Kissinger were able to make the prospect
of normalizing relations with China an asset to both
the United States and China, despite the severe differences since the communist revolution. Nixon acted
on the transformations of Mao Zedong, recognizing
and reassuring the Chinese that Americas relations
with Japan could hamper any renewal of Japanese aggression in the region. Nixons strategic calculations
about American priorities also led to closed-door assurances that the United States will stop asserting that
the status of Taiwan is unknown, and that the United
States will not support a Taiwanese independence
movement. Nixon publicly shifted the United States
from the Kennedy standard of being equipped to fight
two and a half wars (the USSR and Eastern Europe
and a China war) with conventional forces to one and
a half wars, a proclamation which reassured Nixons
Chinese counterparts of his seriousness in strengthening ties between the two states.86 Nixons ultimate calculation that the Sino-Soviet split was an opportunity
to create a permanent division in the worlds largest
communist countries is, perhaps, the ultimate success
of Nixons dtente.87

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The opening of China also showed the potential

success of repeated, short-term trips across a substantial period of time in helping a President see the
evolution of a region, an evolution which would not
be as salient through simple reports. Seeing and understanding the evolution of states and governments
will help a President recognize points where policy
could turn or transition to something more amenable
to the United States, or try to steer the tide away from
a transition that is against American interests. Nixon
also took care to reassure China about Japan and Taiwan, recognizing both the legitimate concerns of the
Chinese and the ultimate U.S. strategic interests. The
back-channel and closed door nature of the negotiations created an environment to produce diplomatic
gains and reassurances about legitimate concerns
without crowing about incremental gains or the
other sides losses. Such a strategy made the China
negotiations politically feasible both for the governments and for citizens. When facing an adversary in
negotiations, this strategy may be advisable in creating politically palatable results.
NIXONS DOWNFALL
As seen over and over, Nixon attended to the major international and domestic political issues of the
time with a strategic calculation: If Nixon considered
the events important, he gave them proper recognition
while placing them in the context of other strategic interests. If he had no regard for an event and its place
in American strategy, he gave it little or no attention.
Nixon was a highly political man who saw politics as a roadblock to his success. He played up events
which could increase his credibility and electability.

144

He used politics to his benefit when possible; for instance, he would refer to the silent majority when
justifying policies which received public outcries, and
is even purported to have White House staff write
ghost editorials in support of him.88 Nixons presidency was not defined by fostering the will of the people,
but by furthering his own agenda.
Nixon often downplayed or belittled events which
could potentially hamper his ability to maintain office
and pursue his chosen foreign policy goals. His years
in office were marked by the cultural movements
sweeping the big cities and college campuses. Although in his 1969 Inaugural Address Nixon claimed
that he know[s] Americas youth and he believe[s]
in them, the President was often dismissive of the student protesters.89 Vice President Spiro Agnew freely
demonized academics and peace protesters as people
encouraged to be an effete corps of impudent snobs
who characterize themselves as intellectuals.90 Since
these groups opposed his policies, Nixon dismissed
their impact. However, these movements and popular
perceptions in general did have some sway on individual policies. General public opinion plus the Nixon
Doctrine were together pivotal in removing the United
States from Vietnam. For instance, the strategic bombing campaign of North Vietnam in 1972 was generally viewed by the American public as causing numerous civilian casualties. However, while the North
Vietnamese did suffer about 13,000 civilian deaths,
this level of casualties is unlikely to have pressured
the North Vietnamese into the 1973 ceasefire which
allowed the United States to leave Vietnam. Instead,
in 1972, the U.S. ground troops stopped the progression of the North Vietnamese into South Vietnam. The
North Vietnamese thereafter had an incentive to want

145

the Americans to leave and create a power vacuum

so the North Vietnamese could successfully take the
South.91 Without popular perception about the harm
being inflicted on the civilian population and popular
dismissal of the strategy of the North Vietnamese, the
public may have read the decision about when and
how to leave Vietnam differently.
Nixon was certainly not the first President to align
political action with election calculations, as he did
with his appointment of John Connally and his economic decisions at large. Campbell Craig and Frederick Logevall argue that the timing of many of Nixons
foreign policy decisions were likewise motivated by
reelection calculations.92 In his memoirs, he describes
the announcement of Johnson to stop bombing North
Vietnam as an 11th-hour masterstroke that almost
won him [Hubert Humphrey] the election.93 The decision did not come as a complete surprise because
Kissinger, who was working for the Johnson administration, fed Nixon information about the bombing
halt. The halt fell through due to the lack of support
from South Vietnam, and Nixon won the presidency.
The incident is less compelling for the facts and more
for Nixons disgust at the shady maneuver. Politics
was a vessel for pursuing his policies, but there was
a palpable loathing for politics at the heart of Nixons
actions. As a man who could never even dream of
having the political charm of a Kennedy, Nixon came
to disdain those who opposed him.
The time of austerity and unpopularity, coupled
with Nixons disdain for dissent in the political process, led to another defining characteristic of his presidency: the concentration of power, sometimes secretly
held power, in the executive. From Kissingers backchannel diplomacy in opening China to Nixons eco-

146

nomic policies, Nixon avoided or ignored the established political process. U.S. foreign policy, more than
ever before, took place outside the knowledge of even
the Secretary of State prior to Kissingers placement in
that position in 1973.
In painting a portrait of Nixons time in office,
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., describes a President who
disregards constitutional provisions regarding the
division of power among the three branches of government, with Nixon systematically concentrating
power in the executive. Nixon commandeered three
powers constitutionally prescribed to Congress: the
war-making power, the power of the purse, and the
power of oversight and investigation.94 Although
Harry Truman in Korea and Johnson in Vietnam provided the precedence of not requiring congressional
approval for the dispatch of troops, Nixon additionally countered the power of the purse by the doctrine
of unlimited impoundment of appropriated funds
and avoided investigation through the doctrine of
unreviewable executive privilege.95 In order to reach
his goal of a balanced, full employment budget, in
1973, Nixon refused to spend more than $12 billion
in appropriated funds, an affront to its power so
galling that Congress would soon debate whether
impoundments warranted his impeachment.96
Nixons disregard of the public and the Congress
was overarching:
the bureaucracy was shut out from key policy decisions, such as detente with the Soviet Union . . . the
announcement of a new economic policy in August 1971, the trip to China, and the Vietnam peace
negotiations.97

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He viewed his goals as the President as U.S. goals, and

did what he saw as best to achieve them, regardless of
tradition, political logic, or legality. Congress and the
American public were often either tools or obstacles to
achieving objectives.
Although Nixon was never impeached, he resigned in disgrace on August 9, 1974. In the 2 years
since members of the Committee to Reelect the President broke into the Democratic National Committee,
Nixon obstructed justice by using political espionage
and abuse of presidential power to cover up the
crimes.98 Kissinger attempted to save Nixons job by
telling the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which
was conducting investigations, that Nixon was pivotal to the Middle East peace process and this constant
attack on domestic authority is going to have the most
serious consequences for our foreign policy,99 but to
no avail. The damage that the disrespect for the political process and the emphasis on secret, concentrated
power had on the Nixon presidency forever eclipses
the reputation of Nixon as the foreign policy President. The United States put in place safeguards such
as financial disclosure laws and Freedom of Information Act amendments after the Nixon presidency to
assure that no President could again take advantage
of the executive in the way Nixon did.
NIXONS LESSONS FOR TODAYS PRESIDENCY
Nixons strategies and experiences showed that
a President during times of austerity is capable of
significant achievements, but Nixons time in office
also highlighted potential pitfalls other Presidents
may face. The lessons that can be gleaned from history may not produce directly transferable solutions

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to present day policy dilemmas, but they can serve to

inform the decisionmaking process around those dilemmas. For instance, the shift in goals of a war from
one presidency to another may be littered with the
same problems as the shift in Vietnam from Johnson
to Nixon. Barack Obamas second term will see a comparable decision to be made in regards to the increasingly unpopular Afghanistan war. With the 2014 exit
date for NATO combat troops, any change in the exit
plan should come from clearly established goals and
defined benchmarks, not a simple assessment that the
mission is or is not accomplished.100 Otherwise, although Obama will accomplish the U.S. exit from Afghanistan, he will have to accept the consequences of
leaving a troubled state.
When Nixon brought the troops home from Vietnam while the civil war raged, the South Vietnamese
questioned the loyalty of a U.S. partnership. The United States may face similar criticism when it leaves Afghanistan in 2014, depending on the political scenario
and amount of conflict when it departs. American
credibility with unstable allies may come into question. However, the United States must not overestimate the importance of American credibility. Nixon
chose to stay in the Vietnam War, to continue putting
American lives in danger through a deadly war, and
to prop up the South Vietnamese government in order to salvage American credibility. As Schell puts it,
Nixon wanted to establish in the minds of peoples
and their leaders throughout the world an image of
the United States as a nation that possessed great
power and had the will and determination to use it
in foreign affairs.101 Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon all
chose to make Vietnam a test case of American resolve without considering that the Vietnam War was

149

determined in large part not because of the strength

of the communist movement emanating from the
USSR, but because of the on-the-ground circumstances of Vietnam.102 The United States chose to overemphasize the importance of Vietnam, and though the
Nixon Doctrine specifically highlighted the necessity
to avoid involvement in conflicts which werent of
strategic importance, Nixon fell into the peril of the
sunk cost problem and prolonged the war to maintain
the supposed credibility of American commitments
instead of exiting sooner.
American leaders feared that if they lacked credibility, their allies may lose faith in American loyalty and ability to act and would fall to communism.
Although Laos and Cambodia fell to the communist
movement, there was not a general ricochet of falling
dominoes, and Americas strongest, mutually beneficial alliances with European countries did not suffer
from the withdrawal.103 Taking a lesson from Vietnam,
although the United States should be concerned about
maintaining perceptions of credibility to fulfill commitments, maintaining credibility should not come
at the expense of real American interests. The United
States should strive to leave Afghanistan in as good of
shape as possible, but not choose to stay longer than
necessary because of credibility calculations.
The United States is predicting massive military
difficulties in Afghanistan after the U.S. exit. However,
the exit from Vietnam leads one to anticipate another
looming problem. As noted previously, when American troops left, they took with them a huge source of
revenue for the Vietnamese government, leading to a
Vietnamese recession with their own austerity measures. The United States has been in Afghanistan for
more than 10 years now, and its exit will inevitably

150

lead to a remarkable loss in the Afghani economy. If

the United States loses interest in Afghanistan postdeparture and chooses to reduce or eliminate aid, it
should expect Afghanistan to institute its own austerity measures and struggle not just militarily but
economically, with decreased functioning of many of
the social institutions which were built up over the
last decade.104
As the United States continues to support the internationally unpopular Israeli government today, the
same problems crop up again and again: The strong,
political American Jewish vote remains significant,
and some Arab states remain hostile because of Americas support for Israel. With the likelihood of Iran
completing a nuclear weapon and the chance of an
unpopular Israeli strike on Iran during the next presidential term, the United States will, implicitly or explicitly, face the calculations for action inherent in the
Nixon Doctrine and must answer the question: What
significance does Israel and a nuclear Iran hold among
the array of American strategic interests?
The United States has not changed course since
Nixons time in assessing China as extremely important to American strategic interests. Chinas enormous
economic gains, especially in the last 2 decades, were
possible because of the normalized relations between
the United States and China, emphasizing the potential gains of creating ties with an otherwise closed
country. The United States is unlikely to have a repeat of Nixons China moment, at least not one that
could begin to match the economic gains brought on
by reopening the Chinese markets. However, certain
lessons can be garnered for the next presidential term
based on the circumstances of the diplomatic process.
First, Nixons political capital as an anti-communist

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allowed him to establish ties with a Communist nation. Assuming the political capital of a President
decreases with decisions made, the decision options
available for the next term of the President will vary
greatly based on the reputation, past performance,
and political party of the President. A political area
where the importance of political capital may become
increasingly important in the next presidential term
is related to the use of drones. The use of drones to
target militants is a practice that theoretically fits
with the hawkish character of the Republican Party,
but as a Democrat, a lawyer, and a critic of the Iraq
war, President Obamas political capital allowed him
to greatly increase the use of drones across borders
to target terrorists, despite the tenuous position of
drones in international law. After the targeted killing
of an American citizen, Obamas political capital diminished, and he now faces criticism for the lack of
due process in targeting Americans and the secretive
nature of the program.105 These calculations of political capital will necessarily factor into the political decisions in the next presidency. Second, the opening of
China points to the importance of negotiating with the
Chinese from the point of equality. Nixon recognized
that the Chinese needed respect in order to move forward, so when the United States enters negotiations
with China in the future, it would be wise to follow
the principles of treating the Chinese as equals and
negotiating from a position of power, while developing a clear understanding of Chinese goals.
The United States could also learn from the linkage between offensive and defensive weapons of the
SALT I negotiations. First, the United States must
work toward gaining a clear understanding of the
threats and needs of any country with which it en-

152

ters into negotiations. Additionally, the United States

could link one problem to another (like offensive and
defensive weapons, or even two unrelated related
subjects) and come to agreement on one subject with
a temporary agreement with assured future negotiations on another subject. By using the first subject as
bait, the United States may eventually be more likely to achieve gains on the more controversial issue by
coming to treaty-based temporary agreements with
treaty-based assurances to future negotiations.
Kissingers teachings on multipolarity are as relevant now as in the past: While America will maintain
overwhelming military strength in the coming decades, the United States will have to to use creativity in dealing with the pluralistic world and avoid
imposing American programs on developing states.
Though the security of America in its great power status is not in question, questions today are repeatedly
being asked about the potential influence of a rising
China for creating a bipolar environment, or even the
rise of lesser powers in creating a multipolar environment. However, while the insecurity of America
in remaining the sole superpower repeatedly crops
up during conversations about Americas future, it
is worth remembering that Kissingers predictions
about the world returning to multipolarity when bipolarity ended were wrong, and predictions made
today should not be taken as an inevitability. For instance, while some authors predict bipolarity, others
predict that the rise of nationalism or globalism will
corrode the power of the state to the extent that great
power status will not hold the same relevance in future years as it does today. While any of these predictions could come true, these types of predictions were
made repeatedly over the last 40 or more years and

153

have failed to produce the predicted results. Therefore, the United States should not assume bipolarity
or multipolarity will reemerge, but it can, nonetheless,
support nonradical cultural and political diversity in
emerging domestic institutions of developing states
and in international institutions.
Finally, the complicated ending of the Nixon presidency serves as a warning to all future Presidents. The
embarrassment and failure of Nixon resulting from his
concentration of executive power has not lead to an
overwhelming timidity in concentrating power today.
The emphasis on executive privilege related to rendition in the George Bush administration and the drone
strikes under the Obama administration indicate that
the United States can expect a continued wrangling
for power between the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches. Presidents should assume, however,
that whenever they take power which is not traditionally part of the executive, they will someday need to
justify their decision.
ENDNOTES - CHAPTER 4
1. Seymour Martin Lipet and William Schneider, The Decline of Confidence in American Institutions, Political Science
Quarterly, Vol. 98, No. 3, Fall 1983, p. 380.
2. James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations, New York: Oxford
University Press, 1996, p. 686.
3. Norman N. Bowsher, 1968-Year of Inflation, Review, St.
Louis, MO: The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, December
1968, available from research.stlouisfed.org/publications/review/
68/12/Inflation_Dec1968.pdf.
4. Patterson, p. 704. Nixon received 31,785,480 votes, while
Hubert Humphrey won 31,275,166 votes.

154

5. Henry A. Kissinger, Central Issues of American Foreign

Policy, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Vol. I, in
Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1969-1972, Document 80, Washington, DC: Department of State, December 9, 1970.
6. John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment, New York:
Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 276.
7. Ibid., p. 271.
8. Henry A. Kissinger, Central Issues of American Foreign
Policy, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969-1976, Vol. I, in
Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1969-1972, Document 4, Washington,
DC: Department of State, 1968.
9. Robert D. Schulzinger, The End of the Vietnam War, 19731976, Fredrik Logevall and Andrew Preston, eds., Nixon in the
World, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 218.
10. Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions an the Making of Our Times, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge
University Press, 2009, p. 202.
11. Gaddis, p. 287.
12. Ibid., p. 288.
13. Ibid., p. 290.
14. Richard Nixon, The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, New York:
Grosset and Dunlap, 1978, pp. 346. Hereafter, Memoirs.
15. Ibid.
16. Edward A. Kolodziej, Foreign Policy and the Politics of
Interdependence: The Nixon Presidency, Polity, Vol. 9, No. 2,
Winter 1976, p. 135.
17. Gaddis, p. 293.
18. Ibid., p. 294.

155

19. Kolodziej, p. 140.

20. Gaddis, p. 295.
21. Kissinger, Central Issues of American Foreign Policy,
Document 4.
22. Gaddis, p. 296. Nixon delivered this outline of the Nixon
Doctrine at a press briefing in Guam in July 1969.
23. Kolodziej, p. 131.
24. Schulzinger, pp. 205-206.
25. Ibid., pp. 213.
26. Ibid., pp. 213.
27. Salim Yaqub, The Weight of Conquest: Henry Kissinger
and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Nixon in the World, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008, p. 230.
28. Ibid., pp. 227.
29. Candidates Dads on Nixon Tapes, CBS News, February 11, 2009, available from www.cbsnews.com/2100-250_162244656.html.
30. Mary Senteria, Chap. 3, Indo-Soviet Relations 1971-1980: A
Study of the Impact of the Treaty of Peace, Friendship and Co-operation
on Bi-lateral Relations, Kottayam, India: Mahatma Gandi University, 2010, available as an ebook from shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/ha
ndle/10603/396?mode=full&submit_simple=Show+full+item+record.
31. Ibid., p. 81.
32. Ibid.
33. Joshua Keating, How Ted Kennedy Helped Create
Bangladesh, Foreign Policy, August 27, 2009, available from blog.
foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/08/27/ted_kennedy_remembered_in_
bangladesh.

156

34. Candidates Dads on Nixon Tapes.

35. Keating.
36. A Guide to the United States History of Recognition,
Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, since 1776: Bangladesh, Washington, DC: Department of State, Office of the Historian, available from history.state.gov/countries/bangladesh.
37. William C. Wohlforth, The Elusive Balance: Power and Perception during the Cold War, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press,
1993, p. 184.
38. Jonathan Schell, The Time of Illusion: An Historical and
Reflective Account of the Nixon Era, New York: Random House,
1975, p. 341.
39. Richard Reeves, Missile Gaps and Other Broken Promises, New York Times, February 10, 2009.
40. Vladislav M. Zubok, A Failed Empire, Chapel Hill, NC: The
University of North Carolina Press, 2007, p. 205.
41. Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance,
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks SALT I Narrative, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of State, available from www.state.gov/t/
isn/5191.htm.
42. Ibid.
43. Ibid.
44. Ibid.
45. Henry Kissinger, White House Years, Boston, MA: Little,
Brown and Company, 1979, p. 148.
46. Ibid., pp. 101-149.
47. Memoirs, p. 523.

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48. Ibid.
49. Ibid.
50. Ibid., p. 524.
51. Allen J. Matusow, Nixons Economy: Booms, Busts, Dollars,
& Votes, Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1998, p. 40.
52. John Noble Wilford, Men Walk on Moon, New York
Times, July 21, 1969, available from www.nytimes.com/learning/
general/onthisday/big/0720.html.
53. John M. Logsdon, Ten Presidents and NASA,
NASA 50th Magazine, available from www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_
magazine/10presidents.html.
54. Matusow. Quote taken from a March 7, 1970 statement.
55. Ibid., p. 87.
56. Ibid., pp. 10, 86.
57. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Civilian Unemployment
Rate, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor, last updated
October 5, 2012, available from research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/
UNRATE.txt.
58. Adam Martin, Remembering Nixons Gold-Standard
Gamble: Interrupting Bonanza, The Atlantic-Wire, August 15,
2011, available from www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/08/nixon-gold-standard-gamble-interrupting-bonanza/41278/.
59. Francis J. Gavin, Gold, Dollars, and Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations, 1958-1971, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2004, pp. 3-4.
60. Ibid., p. 3.
61. Ibid., p. 4.
62. Ibid., p. 8.

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63. Council of Economic Advisers, The Economy at Mid1972, Washington, DC: Federal Reserve Archive, August
1972, p. 54.
64. Matusow, p. 204.
65. Ibid., pp. 212-213.
66. Ibid., pp. 220-222.
67. Ibid., p. 246.
68. Ibid., pp. 260-262.
69. Ibid.
70. Paul C. Light, The Presidents Agenda: Notes on the Timing of Domestic Choice, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 11,
No. 1, Winter 1981, p. 69.
71. Margaret MacMillan, Nixon, Kissinger, and the Opening
to China, Nixon in the World, New York: Oxford University Press,
2008, p. 107.
72. Iwan W. Morgan, Nixon, New York: Oxford University
Press, 2002, p. 95.
73. Memoirs, p. 45.
74. Ibid., p. 46.
75. Gaddis,p. 272.
76. Kolodziej, p. 133.
77. The Beijing-Washington Back-Channel and Henry Kissingers Secret Trip to China, September 1970-July 1971, William
Burr, ed., National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No.
66, February 27, 2002, available from www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
NSAEBB/NSAEBB66/.

159

78. Richard Nixon, Informal Remarks in Guam with Newsmen, The American Presidency Project, July 25, 1969, available
from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=2140.
79. Richard Nixon, Asia after Vietnam, Foreign Affairs, Vol.
46, October 1967, p. 112.
80. Ibid.
81. Ibid., p. 123.
82. MacMillan, p. 109.
83. Ibid., p. 113.
84. Informal Remarks, p. 76.
85. Ibid.
86. Gaddis, p. 295.
87. Memorandum of Conversation in the Great Hall of the
People, Peking, President Nixon et. al., and Prime Minister Chou
En-Lai et. al., p. 5; Washington, DC: The White House, February
22, 1972, available from www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/publications/
DOC_readers/kissinger/nixzhou/12-05.htm.
88. Kolodziej, p. 133.
89. Richard Nixon, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1969,
available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=1941.
90. Patterson, p. 735.
91. John J. Mearsheimer, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics,
New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2001, p. 105.
92. Campbell Craig and Fredrik Logevall, Americas Cold War:
The Politics of Insecurity, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press,
2009, p. 272.

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93. Memoirs, p. 322.

94. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Imperial Presidency, Boston,
MA: Houghton Miller, 2004, p. xv.
95. Ibid.
96. Matusow, p. 216.
97. Kolodziej, p. 139.
98. Morgan, p. 1.
99. Robert Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power, New
York: Harper Perennial, 2007, p. 535.
100. Mark Landler and Michael R. Gordon, Obama Accelerates Transition of Security to Afghanistan, New York Times, January 11, 2013, available from www.nytimes.com/2013/01/12/world/
asia/us-can-speed-afghan-exit-obama-says.html?hpw&_r=0.
101. Schell, p. 342.
102. Craig and Logevall, p. 276.
103. Ibid., pp. 276-278.
104. Thomas E. Ricks, Will Afghanistan Collapse after
U.S. Troops Leave? Maybe, But Not Why You Think, Foreign
Policy, February 16, 2012, available from ricks.foreignpolicy.com/
posts/2012/02/16/will_afghanistan_collapse_after_us_troops_leave_
maybe_but_not_why_you_think.
105. Noah Shachtman, Obama Finally Talks Drone War, But
Its almost Impossible to Believe Him, Wired, September 6, 2012,
available from www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/09/obama-drone/.

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CHAPTER 5
JIMMY CARTER, RONALD REAGAN,
AND THE END (OR CONSUMMATION?)
OF DTENTE
Brian K. Muzas
I explore important continuities in the dtente
conducted by President Jimmy Carter and the quiet
diplomacy practiced by President Ronald Reagan.
The two Presidents agreed on the character of the Soviet threat, shared compatible visions of human nature, and pursued similar approaches in their foreign
policy. Indeed, the Presidents were not only self-consistent over time (Carter before and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Reagan before and after the era
of General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev), but also remarkably consistent across administrations. However,
the two leaders differed importantly as they conducted foreign affairs under a condition of austeritya
condition not so much of fiscal austerity but of existential austerity, a term I coin to encompass not only
losses of national pride, confidence, and sense of purpose, but also deficits of cultural and societal capital
and vigor. The similarities and meaningful differences
between Carter and Reagan lead me to conclude that
dtente did not collapse. Rather, dtente was continued, changed, and ultimately consummated: The messaging and framework were transformed to address
existential austerity, but the basic policy approaches
persisted and ultimately succeeded. By exploring dtente, quiet diplomacy, and sources and solutions for
existential austerity, I reexamine the Carter-Regan era
to seek similarities, differences, and lessons for today.

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INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, I present a background of contemporaneous events which framed the U.S. foreign
policy of dtente as well as dtente itself. I review
what dtente meant to Presidents Carter and Reagan by presenting their overarching views of dtente
(which remained constant for Carter before and after
the invasion of Afghanistan and for Reagan before
and after the era of General Secretary Gorbachev),
by explaining what undergirded their views, and by
comparing their substantive approaches to foreign
policy. I observe essential similarity in the plans and
implementations which Carter called dtente and
which Reagan called quiet diplomacy. Taking into
account the viewpoints of American allies and thirdworld heads of state, I re-harmonize the policies of
Reagan and Carter to conclude that the Carter-Reagan
approach to dtente is a story of consummation rather
than collapse. In my conclusion, I reflect on Carter and
Reagan in terms of austerity and propose broadening
the framework to include not only fiscal austerity, but
existential austeritythat is, to consider not only constraints of U.S. monetary treasure and economic vigor,
but also constraints of cultural treasure and societal
vigor. I then remark upon similarities and differences
in the world situations of the Carter-Reagan era and
of today.

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CONTEMPORANEOUS EVENTS AFFECTING

U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND ITS TOOLS
Dtente did not happen in a vacuum. Events of the
1960s and 1970s that affected U.S. domestic and international politics must be borne in mind while investigating dtente in the Carter and Reagan years. For example, the 1960s saw the civil rights movement crest
and the Vietnam War deepen, and the 1970s saw the
Watergate scandal and the oil crisis. These events
respectively human, military, institutional trust, and
economic matterstaxed U.S. soft and hard reserves:
Civil rights and Watergate caused upheavals in the
American psyche, while Vietnam and the oil crisis, in
addition to psychological shocks, were traditional security issues involving guns and dollars.
BACKGROUND OF DTENTE
In the early-1960s, there were compelling reasons
for the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) to ease their tense relationship. The
U-2 incident occurred in 1960. The Bay of Pigs debacle
occurred in April 1961, and the Berlin Wall went up 4
months later in August. The United States introduced
missiles to Turkey in April 1962, 1 year after the Bay
of Pigs; the Cuban Missile Crisis came to a head 6
months later in October. The tempo and seriousness of
these crises pointed out the need for relaxationthe
meaning of the French word dtente. Besides, both
sides wished to decrease spending; the United States
was increasingly concerned with fighting in Vietnam,
and the Soviets were increasingly concerned about the
Chinese on their southeastern border.

165

A countertrend of more cordial diplomatic relations arose thereafter. In 1963, the Partial Test Ban
Treaty (PTBT) was signed on August 5, ratified by
the U.S. Senate on September 24, and went into effect
on October 10. President John Kennedy first used the
word dtente 9 days later, cautiously saying:
For a pause in the cold war is not a lasting peaceand
a detente does not equal disarmament. The United
States must continue to seek a relaxation of tensions,
but we have no cause to relax our vigilance.1

Yet relaxation and cooperation, or at least coordination, continued. The PTBT was followed by the
Outer Space Treaty in 1967 and the Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT) in 1968. Formal Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) began in 1969, culminating in
the SALT I and Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaties
in 1972. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnevs visit to the
United States in 1973 and the orbital meeting of American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts through the
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975 were visible, symbolic accomplishments, while the Helsinki Accords
provided three items of substantive accomplishments
in security, cooperation, and, notably, human rights.
Despite such developments, many aspects of dtente were open to criticism when Carter came to the
American presidency. Consider two arguments on the
state of the U.S.-Soviet nuclear balance in the 1970s.
Some argued the SALT I treaty was poorly conceived
from a military point of view. By freezing the throw
weight of missiles (and hence the weight of the warheads which could be carried by those missiles), the
treaty locked in a potential four-fold Soviet advantage
should Soviet warhead designers achieve sophistica-

166

tion equivalent to the lighter-weight American warheads in use at that time. Moreover, the treaty counted
subsonic American B-52s as nuclear delivery systems
but did not count supersonic Soviet Backfire bombers, which could strike roughly half of the continental United States (CONUS) unrefueled and the entire
CONUS, given aerial refueling and the availability of
Cuban airfields. Furthermore, there were indications
the Soviets were violating the ABM treaty.2
Others argued the fundamental flaws of dtentes
signature negotiations and treaties were their failure
to address the Soviet buildup dating to the Cuban
Missile Crisis. These critics surmised the Soviets had
decided never again to be in a position where they
would have to back down during a crisis. Moreover,
Soviet spending actually increased after SALT Ian
indication that dtente might not be the relaxation it
appeared to be.3 In addition, Soviet conventional superiority was telling not only in theory but in practice,
for Soviet naval superiority in the Mediterranean Sea
influenced U.S. bargaining over the Yom Kippur War
in 1973.4 Subsequently, a 1973 document called Soviet Strategic Arms Programs and Detente: What Are
They Up To?5 and a 1975 document called Detente in
Soviet Strategy6 appeared.
Given this background, President Carter recast
dtente. In the following pages, I contrast Carters assessment of the Soviet view of dtente with Carters
own overarching view of dtente, I survey the principles Carter understood to undergird dtente, and
I compare Carters substantive foreign policy before
and after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
Despite dtentes association with the 1970s, the
concept appeared consistently throughout President
Reagans two terms in the 1980s. Indeed, almost ex-

167

actly 7 years separate Mexican President Jos Lopez

Portillos comments to Reagan in 1981 on the detente of this world which is so complex and at times
so absurd7 and journalist Helen Thomas observation to Reagan in 1988 that the world is applauding
the initiative, the new dtente that you and President
Gorbachev have initiated.8 Taking particular note of
what Reagan called quiet diplomacy, the following
sections explore dtente in the 1980s in parallel with
Carters approach in the 1970s.
Granted, there are differences between the approaches of Reagan and Carter, and the passages to
follow illustrate distinctiveness as well as resemblance. In particular, I explore continuity in their
political and philosophical realism insofar as Carter
and Reagan ask the same questions of the superpower
relationship and offer remarkably similar answers in
broad strokes.
DTENTE, THE SOVIETS, AND THE FOREIGN
POLICY APPROACHES OF CARTER
AND REAGAN
According to Carter, the Soviets saw dtente as a
continuing aggressive struggle for political advantage
and increased influence with military power and
military assistance as the best means of expanding
their influence abroad as well as the use of proxy
forces to achieve their purposes.9 Carter noted the
excessive Soviet military increase, the violation of human rights (and thus the Helsinki agreement), and the
closed nature Soviet society to further differentiate the
United States and the USSR. In contrast, Carter continually made statements offering his view of dtente,
typically stating his desire that dtente be broad in
scope and reciprocal.10
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Some of Carters understanding of dtente can be

gleaned from statements of what dtente is, as when
he said, To me it means progress toward peace.11 Indeed, when Carter used the term, he said he was not
speaking only of military security but of:
the concern among our individual citizens, Soviet and
American, that comes from the knowledge . . . that
the leaders of our two countries have the capacity to
destroy human society through misunderstandings or
mistakes.12

By relaxing this tension through reducing the

nuclear threat, Carter claimed the world would be
safer, and the superpowers would free themselves to
concentrate on constructive action to give the world
a better life.13 For Carter, dtente related not only to
military security, but to the peace of mind and better
life people would experience as the specter of nuclear
war declined.
Some of Carters understanding of dtente can be
gleaned from quotations wherein he distinguished
dtente from something else, as when he said:
Detente and arms control are necessary conditions,
but not enough to build world peace upon solid foundations. To assert otherwise would be to give military
matters an autonomy that it does not have, to give it
primacy over the political, and to disengage politics
from social matters. . . .14

Dtente was not arms control; the two were distinguishable. Note also how dtente was here presented
as a condition of world peace.
In addition, Carter sought a definition of dtente
that was both expansive and flexible, further defined

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by experience, as . . . nations evolve new means by

which they can live with each other in peace.15 Carters sense of dtentes breadth can be found in statements like, We seek a world of peace. But such a
world must accommodate diversitysocial, political,
and ideological. Only then can there be a genuine cooperation among nations and among cultures, and,
Our long-term objective must be to convince the Soviet Union of the advantages of cooperation and of the
costs of disruptive behavior.16
Despite his insistence that dtente be broadly conceived, sometimes Carters usage painted a restricted,
even anemic, portrait of dtente as when he referred
merely to a pattern of dtente, his only mention of
dtente in his 1979 State of the Union Address.17 Another such example can be found in the Vienna Summit Communiqu released on the signing of the SALT
II treaty. The communiqu implied dtente was inadequately defined. Referring to dtente as a process
rather than a pattern, the communiqu mentioned the
two sides expressed their support for the process
of international dtente which in their view should
become increasingly specific in nature.18 Perhaps
greater clarity can be found by exploring the rules or
principles of dtente as understood by Carter.
Carters clearest statements on dtente are found
in his 1978 United States Naval Academy (USNA)
commencement addressa speech he largely wrote
himself19 in which he sought to balance dtente and
resolve. In addition to calling for a broad definition
of dtente, he laid out the following principles for
dtente: reciprocity, restraint, meticulously honoring
agreements; cooperation, arms limitation, freedom
of movement and expression; protection of human
rights, discarding the goal of attaining military su-

170

premacy, and forgoing the opportunities of military

advantage.20 Although some of these things are goals
rather than principles, this articulation was the clearest statement of the foundations of dtente as Carter
envisioned them. Almost as clear was a later statement that genuine dtente . . . includes restraint in
the use of military power and an end to the pursuit
of unilateral advantage and must include the honoring of solemn international agreements concerning
human rights and a mutual effort to promote a climate
in which these rights can flourish.21
The noted quotations could suggest Carters understanding of dtente never really coalesced in his
own mind. Moreover, even in Carters time, observers heard contradictory voices in Washington, DC,
regarding the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, Carter explained the apparent contradictions between dtente
and resolve as follows: We have one basic policy that
is complicated in itself.22
Just as Carter clarified dtentes apparent tension
of relaxation and resolve, much of Reagans overall
approach to dtente can be expressed in terms of deterrence, dialogue, and signaling. To President Reagan, dtente was not playing out well; hence, he was
determined to change course. Reagan treated military
power as a prerequisite for U.S.-Soviet negotiations,
first to attract Soviet attention, second to deter Soviet
aggression, and third to permit the United States to
bargain from a position of strength. Reagan emphasized the importance of clear signaling through concrete action, noting in an interview that the Soviet
Union . . . during what was supposed to be a detente,
has gone forward with the greatest military buildup
in the history of man. And maybe we need to get their
attention.23

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On the one hand, then, Reagan read a clear signal

from Soviet activity, faulted U.S. policy, and proposed
a policy change to attract Soviet notice. At the midpoint of his presidency, Reagan reiterated the practical importance of commanding Soviet attention in the
following critique:
. . . Mr. Brezhnev said that detente was serving their
purpose and that by 1985, they would be able to get
whatever they wanted by other means.
So, I have no illusions about [the Soviets]. But I do believe that the Soviets can be dealt with if you deal with
them on the basis of what is practical for them and that
you can point out is to their advantage as well as ours
to do certain things. . . .
Evil empire, the things of that kind, I thought . . . it was
time to get their attention, to let them know that I was
viewing them realistically.24

On the other, however, Regan avoids a just peace

approach,25 for he believed strengthened U.S.
military power was a prerequisite to fruitful U.S.Soviet engagement.
I believe that the United States . . . went all out in
various efforts at dtente . . . in which we unilaterally
disarmed with the idea that maybe if we did this and
showed our good faith, [The Soviets] would reciprocate by reducing their own [arms]. Well, they didnt.
Theyve engaged in the most massive military buildup
the world has ever seen. And therefore, the reason I
believe that there is more security today is the redressing that weve done of our own military strength, the
strength of the alliance, and the unity that we have.26

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Strength precedes, originates, and fosters security

in Reagans view. Strength coupled with arms reductions were keys to productive U.S.-Soviet relations in
Reagans vision, but he also recognized that American
public support for both was necessary to undergird
and sustain them.
PHILOSOPHICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF
CARTERS AND REAGANS APPROACHES
The word dtente evokes images of international politics. Carter, however, held the human person
squarely in the center of his view of politics. To understand Carters vision of dtente, I explore Carters
philosophical anthropologyhis theory of human natureand how human rights, values, culture, morality, and religion interrelate according to his viewpoint.
After being characterized as an enemy of dtente
in the Soviet press, Carter was asked whether dtente
was possible without Soviet respect for human rights.
Carter indicated that aggressive pursuit of human
rights was even-handed aspect of dtente, a standard
which could and did apply equally to the Soviet Union
and to the United States.27 Carter further maintained,
There are no hidden meanings in our commitment
to human rights; moreover, American human rights
emphasis was specifically not designed to heat up
the arms race or bring back the cold war. Rather,
Carter argued:
We must always combine realism with principle.
Our actions must be faithful to the essential values to
which our own society is dedicated, because our faith
in those values is the source of our confidence that
this relationship will evolve in a more constructive
direction.28

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Realism informed by principle and interests enlightened by values form a seamless whole in Carters
confident vision of foreign policy. Carters realism is
not only a political realism but also a philosophical
realism, of which more follows in the following text.
Questioned on the Helsinki Accords and the fear
that dtente might cause the rights of the Baltic people
to drop from the U.S. political scene, Carter stated,
As long as Im in the White House, human rights will
be a major consideration of every foreign policy decision that I make, and I might say, also, domestic.29 He
even reminded the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) that human rights and values are the
final purpose and meaning of our Alliance.30 Thus,
Carter interprets Helsinki as a development of dtente
which has incorporated human rights into the superpower relationship in an integral fashion.
For Carter, then, human rights and dtente went
hand in hand, although the two were independent issues to a degree. Nevertheless, Carter considered dtente to serve human rights in an ultimate sense. Although Carters emphasis on human rights may seem
innovative since he was the first President to stress
them so greatly in his international politics and policies, Carter considered the issues importance already
to have been highlighted. Carters innovation thus is
one of accent rather than development.
Moving from human rights to values, interests,
culture, and the human person, Carter saw the relationship of values and interests as a question which
exceeded the scope of superpower relations but
which could not be bracketed from those relations.
Dealing with interests and values simultaneously,
Carter observed:

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[U.S.-Soviet] competition is real and deeply rooted in

the history and the values of our respective societies.
But . . . our two countries share many important overlapping interests. Our job . . . is to explore those shared
interests and use them to enlarge the areas of cooperation between us on a basis of equality and mutual
respect. . . .
. . . But we will have no illusions about the nature of
the world as it really is. The basis for complete mutual trust between us does not yet exist. Therefore, the
agreements that we reach must be anchored on each
side in enlightened self-interest. . . .31

Carter thus exhibited philosophical realism (distinct from the term realism as used in international
relations theory) insofar as he believes that it is possible for human beings to reach true judgments of fact
and value. It is on such judgments that Carter based
his approach to international politics and political realism. Dealing with the question of values from a U.S.
perspective, Carter asserted the United States is a nation that believes in peace, values human life, and
takes the lead to constrain nuclear weaponry among
all nations, even ones that have not yet developed
nuclear arms.32 Dealing with interests, Carter stated:
Our national security was often defined almost exclusively in terms of military competition with the Soviet
Union. . . . But [military balance] cannot be our sole
preoccupation to the exclusion of other world issues
which also concern us both.33

Although Carter recognized variations in culture

may affect the perceptions which influence judgments,
he insisted on essential commonality: Although
there are deep differences in our values and ideas, we

175

Americans and Russians belong to the same civilization whose origins stretch back hundreds of years.34
Herein lies a key to Carters philosophical anthropology of a common human nature, perhaps best summed
up by Carters claim:
Beyond all the disagreements . . . and beyond the cool
calculations of mutual self-interest . . . is the invisible
human reality that must bring us closer together. I
mean the yearning for peace, real peace, that is in the
very bones of us all.35

Such a view of human nature naturally moves our discussion to the crossroads of morality, human rights,
and faith.
If human nature is shared as Carter suggests and
if true judgments of fact and value can be reached as
Carter holds, then it follows that Carter should contend that moral claims fall on both superpowers alike:
[w]eve moved to engage the Soviet Union in a joint
effort to halt the strategic arms race. This race is not
only dangerous, its morally deplorable. We must put
an end to it.36 Indeed, Carter noted:
When I took office, many Americans were growing
disillusioned with detentePresident [Gerald] Ford
had even quit using the word. . . . I felt that it was urgent to restore the moral bearings of American foreign
policy.37

Moreover, Carter linked human rights and religious

faith, particularly in Africa, noting that Africans,
whether Muslim or Christian, worship God:
They recognize that the Soviet Union is a Communist
and an atheistic nation, and its a very present concern
in the minds and hearts of Africans who, on a tempo176

rary basis, will turn to the Soviets to buy weapons. . . .

Id rather depend on the basic commitment of American people to human rights, to religious commitment
and freedom, and to a sense of equality. . . .38

Carter reiterated a week later, The Soviets are atheistic, and most of the leaders in Africa are deeply religious people. They may be Christian, they may be
Moslem, or otherwise. But I think they have a natural
distrust of atheists.39
Carter was famously a born-again Christian, so
naturally he made references to the authority of the
Bible in some of his public statements: With all the
difficulties, all the conflicts, I believe that our planet
must finally obey the Biblical injunction to follow
after the things which make for peace.40 He also
made biblical allusions and used biblical imagery in
his speeches. Of particular note is the following: when
at the Berlin Airlift Memorial, he mentioned three
concrete principles of dtente, Carter also made reference to the well-known city on a hill passage of the
Bible,41 foreshadowing Reagans later effective use of
the imagery.
Carter foreshadowed Reagan in more than just literary allusions, however. Indeed, if Reagans military
policy is seen as rebalancing of the superpower relationship in order to allow a secure relaxation of tensions, then Reagans approach to the Strategic Arms
Reduction Talks (START) is really a brand of dtente.
Reagan saw a serious disparity between the goals of
relaxation and the results of dtente as practiced in the
1970sa one-way street that the Soviet Union has
used to pursue its own aims.42 As a result, Reagan
offered four points in a personal communication to
Leonid Brezhnev. The United States would cancel its

177

deployment of Pershing II and ground-launch cruise

missiles if the Soviets will dismantle their SS-20, SS-4,
and SS-5 missiles, would readily negotiate substantial reductions in nuclear arms which would result in
levels that are equal and verifiable, would cooperate
with the USSR to achieve equality at lower levels of
conventional forces in Europe, and would work to
reduce the risks of surprise attack and the chance of
war arising out of uncertainty or miscalculationall
of which were based on fair-minded principles of
substantial, militarily significant reduction in forces,
equal ceilings for similar types of forces, and adequate
provisions for verification. 43
These four points were not framed by Reagan in
the language of dtente. However, President Luis Herrera Campns of Venezuela was present when Reagan shared these points in a speech, and Herrera expressed his belief that your speech . . . will be a great
contribution to dtente,44 thereby illustrating even in
1981, foreign leaders found continuity between Reagans and Carters admittedly different approaches to
diplomacy and foreign policy.
One can move from proposals to principles by
looking at a NATO statement offering carefully struck
balances between the power reserved to states and
the rights reserved to people, the freedom of travel
of both ideas and of people, and the equilibrium and
transparency of military relations. 45
Reagan acknowledged the different manners in
which the United States and Soviet Union treated dtente. Once again, Reagan is in accord with Carter. A
document issued by the North Atlantic Council read
in part:

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The decade of so-called detente witnessed the most

massive Soviet buildup of military power in history.
They increased their defense spending by 40 percent
while American defense actually declined in the same
real terms. Soviet aggression and support for violence
around the world . . . eroded the confidence needed
for arms negotiations. While we exercised unilateral
restraint, they forged ahead and today possess nuclear
and conventional forces far in excess of an adequate
deterrent capability.46

Speaking on disarmament, Reagan told the United

Nations General Assembly, Weve seen, under the
guise of diplomacy and detente and so forth in the
past, efforts to kind of sweep the differences under
the rug and pretend they dont exist. Rejecting the inevitability of war like Carter, Reagan noted both how
START had surpassed SALT II and how progress had
been made on Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) as
well; he concluded, I think that this just proves that
maybe being willing, frankly, to recognize the differences between us and what our view is has proven
that its successful.47
When accused of wrecking detente with the INF
statement, Reagan again noted detente, as it existed,
was only a cover under which the Soviet Union built
up the greatest military power in the world. I dont
think we need that kind of a dtente while reiterating the United States was ready at any time that they
want to make it plain by deed, not word that the
Soviets were ready to progress.48 In a similar vein, he
addressed the role of the nonaligned movement and
cautioned, Pseudo nonalignment is no better than
pseudo arms control.49

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Reagan thus concluded that a firmer, better-armed

United States is ultimately helpful to U.S.-Soviet bilateral relations and world peace, even to the extent of
facilitating nuclear abolitionism.
I think the Soviets . . . liked it the other way when under a kind of detente, they were having things their
own way. Now they know that were not going to
make ourselves vulnerable. . . . But they also know . . .
anytime they want to sit down, we are willing to start
reducing these weapons. And my ultimate goal isI
think common sense dictates itthe world must rid
itself of all nuclear weapons. There must never be a
nuclear war. It cantshouldnt be fought, and it cant
be won.50

According to Reagan, he is not pursuing dtente. Nevertheless, he seeks to abolish nuclear weapons. Like
Carter, Reagan wished both to deter the Soviets and
to constructively engage them. If this approach is not
to be called dtente, then perhaps Reagans phrase,
quiet diplomacy, is a suitable label.
What the previous passages suggest should be
made explicit. A good starting point is Reagans Eureka College, Eureka, IL, speech. Reagan viewed the
fruits of dtente in the 1970s both in terms of the bilateral superpower relationship and in terms of the
world as a whole, as follows: If East-West relations
in the detente era in Europe have yielded disappointment, detente outside of Europe has yielded a severe
disillusionment for those who expected a moderation
of Soviet behavior.51 Questioned on his commitment
to the idea of linkage, the concept whereby you link
arms control negotiations, East-West trade, summitry
with the Soviet Union with political progress by the
Soviet Union on things like Poland and Afghanistan,

180

Reagan pointed out that, although the concept was not

mentioned in his Eureka College speech, nevertheless:
in the many times that Ive spoken of that concept, I
have never particularly linked it to something as specific as arms reductions talks. But it was done in the
context of the summit meetings that have taken place
with regard to trade and to features of dtente. . .. The
fact that you do not proclaim such subjects. . . does
not mean that they cant be brought up when youre
sitting at a table. I think sometimes that politically to
publicly discuss things of that kind makes it politically impossible to get them, where maybe in what Ive
called quiet diplomacy you secure them.52

Quiet diplomacy may be the closest Reagan came to

giving a name to his policies which included features
of detente.
Reagan also dealt with the limits of cooperation
between the West and the East. Questioned about a
communiqu stating one aim was a more constructive East-West relationship aiming at genuine detente through dialog and negotiations and mutually
advantageous exchanges, Reagan noted 19 arms reduction efforts since World War II, and efforts at
persuasion, but:
It seems to me that now, with the Soviets having the
economic problems I mentioned, that this is an opportunity for us to suggest to them that there might be a
better path than theyve been taking. And if so, wed
like to explore that better path.53

Subsequently asking of the implications of the Polish announcement that Lech Walesa would be freed,
that Brezhnev had died, and that new leaders would
be coming to power in the USSR, the questioner asked

181

whether any new initiatives to lessen tension were

forthcoming. Reagan responded, We have been trying to do that in the area of quiet diplomacy, tried in
the summit conference, tried in the NATO conference,
of various things. . . . But its going to require some action, not just words.54 Pressed on whether he was prepared to take a first step, Regan said, Well, there are
some people that have said I took the first step with
lifting the grain embargo. Have we gotten anything
for it?55
Reagan insisted that superpower parity had to
work both ways. He suggested parallel paths of deterrence and verifiable arms reductions to equal levels, noting that never before have we proposed such
a comprehensive program of nuclear arms control
and concluding:
We . . . want a constructive relationship with the Soviet
Union, based on mutual restraint, responsibility, and
reciprocity. Unfortunately, Soviet-backed aggression
in recent years . . . has violated these principles. But
we remain ready to respond positively to constructive
Soviet actions.56

As Carter had seen deterrence as necessary to dtente, Reagan saw deterrence as required for
relaxation.
Reagans principles of restraint, responsibility,
and reciprocity also strike a familiar, Carter-esque
chord. Moreover, Reagan noted:
From 1970 to 1979, our defense spending, in constant
dollars, decreased by 22 percent. . . .
Potential adversaries saw this unilateral disarmament
. . . as a sign of weakness and a lack of will necessary to

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protect our way of life. While we talked of detente, the

lessening of tensions in the world, the Soviet Union
embarked on a massive program of militarization.
Since around 1965, they have increased their military
spending, nearly doubling it over the past 15 years.57

Hence, Reagan saw the U.S. policy as one of rebalancing for relaxation. When pressed on whether he
wanted to contain [the Soviets] within their present
borders and perhaps try to reestablish detenteor
what goes for detenteor . . . roll back their empire,
Reagan replied:
I believe that many of the things they have done are
evil in any concept of morality that we have. But I also
recognize that as the two great superpowers in the
world, we have to live with each other. . . . [B]etween
us, we can either destroy the world or we can save it.
And I suggested that, certainly, it was to their common interest, along with ours, to avoid a conflict and
to attempt to save the world and remove the nuclear
weapons. And I think that perhaps we established a
little better understanding.
I think that in dealing with the Soviet Union one has
to be realistic. . . .
The Soviet Union has been engaged in the biggest military buildup in the history of man at the same time
that we tried the policy of unilateral disarmament, of
weakness, if you will. And now we are putting up a
defense of our own. And Ive made it very plain to
them, we seek no superiority. We simply are going to
provide a deterrent so that it will be too costly for them
if they are nursing any ideas of aggression against us.
. . . Theres been no change in my attitude at all. I just
thought when I came into office it was time that there
was some realistic talk to and about the Soviet Union.
And we did get their attention.58
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Thus, Reagan saw his policy as a recalibration of goals

and a drawing of attention to this redirection. He
characterized his policy in terms of morality, conflict
avoidance, political and philosophical realism, and
attention-getting.
Intertwined with Reagans policy are principles
of verification and reciprocity. Reagan stated arms
reduction must not proceed naively or pretending
. . . that we can have a detente while [the Soviets] go
on with their programs of expansion but must rather
persuade them to, by deed, prove their contention
that they want peace also.59
Reagan further clarified that the word dtente had
been a little abused in the past in some ways. Yes,
we would welcome such a thing as long as it was a
two-way street. Our problem in the past has been that
it has too much been a one-way street, and we were
going the wrong way on that.60 Indeed, one week
before Gorbachev came to power, Regan emphasized
reciprocity.61 From such a standpoint, Reagan sounds
much like Carter with less emphasis on leading by example and more emphasis on verifiability of actions.
Note also that the U.S. military buildup, begun under
Carter, is itself a U.S. action that the Soviets could
verify, so one could additionally read this signal as a
backhanded nod to reciprocity.
Like Carter, Regans policies can best be understood by recognizing that, for both leaders, the roles
of morality and human rights arise from their philosophical anthropology. In terms of morality, Reagan
observed the Soviets:
openly and publicly declared that the only morality
they recognize is what will further their cause, mean-

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ing they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat, in order to attain that
[goal], and that is moral, not immoral, and we operate
on a different set of standards, I think when you do
business with them, even at a detente, you keep that
in mind.62

Building on what Reagan saw as the stark difference between Soviet and American understandings of
morality, Reagan delineated how human rights ought
to fit into superpower relations and American foreign
policy in general by calling for consistently-applied
standards. Reagan said, I think human rights is very
much a part of our American idealism . . . [but] we
were selective with regard to human rights. Contrasting Cuba and the USSRboth human rights violators,
yet some were proposing to better relations with Cuba
anywayReagan argued for consistency: I think that
we ought to be more sincere about our position of
human rights.63
Philosophical anthropology arose more explicitly in Reagans approach to the Soviet Union when
he responded to a question about suggestions . . .
made to the Soviets [concerning] ways they can improve their behavior [and so] get back to detente and
reduce this war of words. Reagan said he had told
Brezhnev that sometimes it seems that the governments sometimes get in the way of the people who
essentially wish to raise families, choose a career, and
exercise control over their own lives. He concluded,
I doubt that the people have ever started a war, so
Reagan suggested that he and Brezhnev discuss what
the people really wanted.64
In another venue, Reagan raised a philosophical
point even more explicitly:

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[I]n the years of detente we tended to forget the greatest weapon the democracies have in their struggle is
public candor: the truth. . . . Its not an act of belligerence to speak to the fundamental differences between
totalitarianism and democracy; its a moral imperative. It doesnt slow down the pace of negotiations; it
moves them forward.65

Thus, like Carter, Reagan is a philosophical realist

who wants to ground his foreign policy in true judgments of fact and value. To quote one of Reagans favorite Russian proverbs, Trust, but verify.
SUBSTANTIVE FOREIGN POLICY BEFORE
AND AFTER AFGHANISTAN AND
GORBACHEV
U.S. foreign policy and Carters conception of
dtente were conjoint. Carter outlined the following
principal policy goals in his USNA address: maintain
equivalent nuclear strength; maintain judicious military spending; support global and regional organizations; seek peace, communication, understanding,
cultural and scientific exchange, and trade; prevent
nuclear weapons proliferation; and limit nuclear
arms.66 As means to these ends, Carter proposed a
combination of adequate American strength, of quiet
self-restraint in the use of it, of a refusal to believe in
the inevitability of war, and of a patient and persistent
development of all the peaceful alternatives.67 Note
in passing the coherence of quiet self-restraint and
quiet diplomacy.
Carter had grand objectives for dtente. These included SALT reductions, limitations, and a freeze on
new technology, a complete end to all nuclear tests, a
ban on use and stockpiling of chemical and biological
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weapons, reduced conventional arms sales, arms limitations in the Indian Ocean, a ban on nuclear weapons in the southern half of the Western Hemisphere
via the Treaty of Tlatelolco, Mexico, the Middle East
peace promotion, NATO-Warsaw Pact force reductions in Europe, sharing of science and technology as
well as cooperation in outer space, and world health
improvement and hunger relief.68
In terms of nuclear strategy and declaratory policy,
Carter made a stunning offer while toasting Leonid
Brezhnev at the 1979 Vienna summit:
I hope, Mr. President [Brezhnev], that dtente, which
has been growing in Europe because of your great
work, can now encompass other regions of the world.
. . . The SALT agreement . . . provides a good foundation. . . . Let us both agree never to use offensive
weapons against any nation in an act of aggression.69

This quotation, taken from the official press release, is

the closest thing to an offer of an American no-firstuse policy of which I am aware. It therefore represents
an amazing potential concession with implications for
the credibility of U.S. extended deterrence. Bear these
thoughts on credibility and extended deterrence when
reading about Carters response to the Afghanistan invasion in the following passages.
If nuclear bombs are indeed the ultimate weapon,
then part of Carters address at a 1980 Democratic National Committee fundraiser might be called an ultimate wish list. The first part of this list was free-standing and strikingly Reagan-like: Going further than his
suggestion of nuclear no-first-use, Carter nearly called
for nuclear abolition. He reached as far as effective
nuclear abolition:

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We are eager to see that detente [is] not weakened but

strengthened. And we are eager to control nuclear
weapons, to reduce our dependence on them, and ultimately to eliminate nuclear weapons as a factor from
the face of the Earth. This is our ultimate goal.70

Carter concluded with a restatement of Democratic

Party platform commitments to peace, better relationships among peoples, control of nuclear weapons, and
sound management of economic and energy issues.71
Note that this 1980 statement antedates the Afghanistan invasion.
Most commentators proclaimed the death of dtente with the Soviets Christmas Eve invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Not Carter. Just before entering his
final full year in office, Carter declared:
And my hope is to go out of this office having kept our
country at peace; . . . with firm, sound friendship and
detente between ourselves and the Soviet Union; . . .
having enhanced human rights; . . . with alliances and
friendships firmly established with as many people as
possible on Earth; and . . . with nuclear arms under
control.72

Carter addressed the previous statement to student

leaders. Lest one think his remarks were tailored to
impressionable youngsters, later the same day Carter
told an audience of magazine editors:
Were committed to the preservation of detente. Once
the Soviet troops are withdrawn from Afghanistan
and the threat of military action by them is removed,
then well be very glad to pursue aggressively again
further progress in the control of weapons and in the
strengthening of our ties with all nations on Earth.73

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Finally, Carters toast of German Chancellor

Helmut Schmidt reaffirmed commitments to the control of weaponry although they have been shaken,
but not changed, by the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.74 In returning the toast, Schmidt showed that
Carter was not the only world leader who still held
dtente to be viable by noting the necessity of a balance of military power in Europe and in the world as
a prerequisite for detente and judging that this prerequisite was, in fact, being met.75
Dtente and deterrence remained intertwined for
Carter in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Within 1 month of the invasion, Carters
State of the Union message declared:
An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the
Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on
the vital interests of the United States of America, and
such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.76

Although Carter did not specifically mention a

nuclear response, Carter wrote afterwards that he
intended to signal the U.S. response would not necessarily be confined to any small invaded area or to
tactics or terrain of the Soviets choosing.77 In February, an administration official subsequently declared,
The Soviets know that this terrible weapon has been
dropped on human beings twice in history and it was
an American president who dropped it both times.
Therefore, they have to take this into consideration in
their calculus.78 An ambiguous, but not ambivalent,
mix of conventional and nuclear signaling took place
in the form of 6 months of reconnaissance flights by
B-52s.79 These nuclear signals, although of limited significance to the American response overall, are note189

worthy in light of dtente. After all, many American

elites had come to doubt the credibility of extended
deterrence by the end of the 1960s, but the continuation of extended deterrence could be attributed to
inertia, to the need for NATO solidarity, to the lack
of danger in the era of dtente, or to a combination
of such factors. From this standpoint, then, the postAfghanistan Carter doctrine is an innovation rather
than a continuation, a unilateral action rather than a
client-based action, and a decision undertaken in an
unpredictable situation susceptible to miscalculation
rather than in a business-as-usual context. Dtente
could have a hard nose.
After developing such a surprising policy, Carter
reaffirmed the importance of deterrence in terms of
dtente, stating, [I]f we continue to seek the benefit
of detente while ignoring the necessity for deterrence,
we would lose the advantages of both.80 He emphasized the U.S. mission was:
to promote order, not to enforce our will . . . to protect
our citizens and our national honor, not to harm nor
to dishonor others; to compel restraint, not to provoke
confrontation; to support the weak, not to dominate
them; to assure that the foundations of our new world
are laid upon a stable superpower balance, not built
on sand.81

Carter explained his post-Afghanistan actions as a

choice to employ political and economic instruments
and to hold in reserve stronger action in the future, if
necessary, to preserve peace in that troubled region.82
His policies retained a less aggressive posture than
some predecessorsless aggressive, but no less realistic since the United States had to respond effectively
and forcefully and, I believe, peacefully to Soviet ag190

gression when its so blatant and so immoral as is taking place at this very moment in Afghanistan.83
For Carter, then, dtente survived Afghanistan
with its essence intact. Carters approach to dtente
can appear ambiguous at times: if it is simply a relaxation, then dtente is not a policy but a policy goal, yet
Carter occasionally treated dtente as a means rather than an end. Nevertheless, Carter had a basically
consistent focus for dtente expressed by a consistent
rhetoric. Reagan continued much of the Carter focus
and rhetoric, especially when it came to topics and
language dealing with religious, human rights, moral,
and nuclear issues.
Toward the end of his presidency, Reagan summed
up the four legs on which the table of the U.S.Soviet relationship stood. Although he did not use
the term dtente, Reagan set forth something rather
like Carters vision of a broad-based and reciprocal
dtente with four themes which would have been
familiar to Carter: arms reduction, regional conflicts,
human rights, and bilateral exchanges.84 Moreover,
Reagan criticized the dtente of the early-1970s rather
than the late-1970s over which Carter presided.
Combining his desire for relaxation and his steadfast adherence to principled foreign policy, Reagan,
after noting expansionism in several places in the
world, observed how Soviet leaders consistently
restated their goal of a one-world Socialist revolution, a one-world Communist state. And invariably, they have declared that the United States is the
final enemy.85
Clearly Reagan was to tread cautiously. But tread
forward he did, and between the Washington and
Moscow summits, Reagan discussed the fundamental approach to arms reduction followed by the

191

United States. The remarks he made concerning arms

reductions are worth quoting at length:
At first, many critics viewed the goal of genuine arms
reductions as unrealistic, even . . . misleading, even
put forward in bad faith. . . . But by the autumn of 1985
. . . the media began reporting a Soviet willingness to
consider a 25-percent, then a 40-percent, and finally a
50-percent reduction in strategic arms. . . .
With regard to our zero-option proposal for intermediate-range nuclear forces . . . the critics again derided
our position as unrealistic when we first advanced it in
1981. Today its my hope that the Senate will . . . give
its . . . consent to the INF treaty that Mr. Gorbachev
and I signed last December in Washington so we can
exchange instruments of ratification next month in
Moscow.
. . . Youll recall that the Soviets rejected [a 1977] American offer [of deep nuclear cuts] out of hand. Why?
And what has changed in the meantime? . . .
First, the United States in the 1970s slashed our defense budgets and neglected crucial defense investment. We were dealing . . . from a position of weakness.
Well, today were dealing from a position of strength.
Second, the United States, those 11 years ago, had not
yet shown what might be called a tough patiencea
willingness to stake out a strong position, then stand
by it as the Soviets probed and made their counteroffers, testing American determination. . . .
. . . I said when I first ran for President that our nation needed to renew its strength. Some called me bellicose, even a warmonger. . . . Now we know, without
doubt, that strength works, that strength promotes the
cause of freedom and, yes, the cause of peace.86

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A further, more concise retrospective view is provided by Reagans farewell address. Reagan said,
The detente of the 1970s was based not on actions
but promises, and he mentioned the gulag, Soviet expansionism, and proxy wars in Africa, Asia, and Latin
America. He continued, Well, this time, so far, its
different, and mentioned Gorbachev began internal
reforms, started to withdraw from Afghanistan, and
freed prisoners.87
Did Reagan provide retrospective structure, or was
his narrative representative of how the United States
approached foreign policy during his two terms?
In fact, we can trace a number of the points raised
throughout the Reagan-Gorbachev era, starting with
Reagans promise, [W]e are not going to let them get
enough advantage that they can ever make war.88
Although a military buildup began under Carter,
Reagan intensified the buildup, using one of the tools
that Carter was already employing. Moreover, Reagans policies aspired to better the relations between
the United States and the Soviet Union:
[O]ur desire for improved relations is strong. Were
ready and eager for step-by-step progress. We know
that peace is not just the absence of war. We dont want
a phony peace or a frail peace. We didnt go in pursuit
of some kind of illusory detente. We cant be satisfied
with cosmetic improvements that wont stand the test
of time. We want real peace.89

Throughout his two terms, Reagan insisted on actual progress, not merely irenics. When it was pointed
out to Reagan that many Europeans consider Gorbachev the politician more aggressively looking for
disarmament and detente than you, he was asked,
Is he [Gorbachev] simply a better communicator than
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you, or do you accept that view? Reagan answered,

The last guest to arrive at a party usually gets the
attention. . . . But the search for peace requires more
than slogans and reassuring words; it requires genuine actions and concrete proposals that deal with real
problems. . . . He noted INF reduction and elimination were [b]oth . . . in fact U.S. proposals and that
measures agreed to in Stockholm, Sweden, to improve
military openness, to reduce the risk of surprise attack, and to discourage military intimidation were
based on NATO proposals. The Soviets wanted an
empty, declaratory accord. We held out for something
concrete that would enhance our security, and we got
it.90 For similar reasons, Reagan insists, We do not
want mere words; this time were after true peace.91
Shortly after his presidency ended, he got his wish:
the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, and the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.
DTENTE IN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
DURING THE CARTER-REAGAN YEARS
Lest the previous reading of the history of dtente
seem overly idiosyncratic, it is important to note how
Carters contemporaries understood both the man
himself and his vision of dtente. Certainly Prime
Minister Giulio Andreotti of Italy felt he understood
where Carter was coming from: he explained Carters
philosophy in terms of Carters personal history:
I do not think I am far off the mark, because the statesman is first of all a man, if I connect your reaffirmations for human rights not so much to a high political
strategy but rather to your youthful experiences as
a son of the Deep Southsensitive, with foreseeing
clearness to the appeal of civil unity and of the equality of man.92
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Andreotti additionally noted that Carter made it

clear, without equivocation, that there is no contrast
between the repeated raising of the issue of human
rights and international policy of detente, to which we
are also faithfully and earnestly committed.93 Moreover, as put by French Prime Minister Raymond Barre:
France believes . . . that in the East-West relations a
policy of detente, understanding, and cooperation is
necessary now more than ever. France knows from her
own long experience that vigilant trust is far preferable to distrust, to a refusal to enter into a dialog, and
to incomprehension. The American people, motivated
by a blend of tolerance and conviction, which gives it
its moral strength, and of which you, Mr. President,
are the exemplification, cannot fail to be so persuaded.
. . . A world at peace must not only be a world without war; it must also be a world without violence and
without tyranny, where the furthering of the human
being is the prime objective of society. Peace is not established only upon the silence of man.94

Carters contemporaries and peers understood dtentes foundations, the requisite vigilant dialog,
and the ultimate goal of peace without tyranny to be
grounded in a view of the human person, a vision of
the human person which they all shared.
From a thematic point of view, Carters contemporaries saw dtente as a process which had its own rules,
principles, and logic. President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy
of India stated: Detente, coexistence, and even cooperation between countries with different political and
social systems have come to be recognized as having
an inexorable logic for our interdependent planet.95
General Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria commented,
Africa is equally interested in the current efforts at
195

detente between East and West, as this is the only dependable means of ensuring peace and stability in the
world and development all around, especially in new
states.96
Carter observed that President Josip Broz Tito of
Yugoslavia understood:
the true significance of this misunderstood word . . .
that detente must be comprehensive, that it must be
reciprocal in nature, and it must be a demonstration
constantly by the super powers of mutual restraint
and a constant search for peace.97

Tito himself described dtente in terms of a process and even delineated a relationship between the
nonaligned movement and dtente:
We are deeply convinced that detente can fulfill the
expectations of all the peoples of our planet if it becomes a universal process and if it encompasses all
the burning problems of the dayfirst and foremost
political, military, and economicas at present, we
live in a world of such interdependence that its fate is
ultimately common.
The movement of nonaligned is a logical expression
of the objective need of the present, still considerably
divided world. It is an exceptionally important part,
an active factor of the process of detente. . . .
Therefore, every attempt at weakening the nonaligned
movement and that linking its parts to one or the
other bloc is inevitably directed against detente itself,
against the strengthening and expansion of peaceful
coexistence. . . .
Any attempt to impose unilateral interests casts a
shadow over the already attained level of confidence

196

and throws us back into the past, while the very nature
of the process of detente makes it incumbent on us,
due to the accountability of all countries and peoples
to themselves, to move constantly forward.98

The emphasis on interdependence coheres well with

Carters conception of a broad dtente which was not
to be narrowly bound to arms control or even to superpower relations.
The dressings of rhetoric may at first obscure the
relationship between Carters dtente and Reagans
quiet diplomacy. Nevertheless, the continuity is deeper than first appearances would suggest; moreover,
the continuity runs deeper than nuclear policy, for
both Carter and Reagan forced the USSR to compete
more broadly, especially on human rights. Consider
the following elements of dtente and quiet diplomacy through European eyes during Reagan's terms.
For similar reasons, Reagan insists on something
deeper than the mere appearances of peace. This symbolism/substance dichotomy was observed by commentators. For example, Italian journalists wondered
whether a strong push by the Europeans for a summit conference, and possibly in the direction of a new
detente, may create a situation in which the tactics of
the summit may be more important than the substance
of the discussions. Reagan wrote back:
If nothing else, my most recent discussions with our
allies and partners at the Bonn Economic Summit further convinced me that European leaders attach far
more importance to the substance of East-West relations than to what you call tactics. Their stakes in a
genuinely improved East-West climate are as strong
perhaps even stronger than our own, and they do not
want such a critical relationship built on illusion, ambi-

197

guity, or misunderstanding. Despite what the Soviets

themselves may be hoping or saying for propaganda
purposes, the Western track record is impressive when
it comes to sizing up our adversary and taking joint
action in response. Allied firmness on commitment to
the two-track NATO decision on intermediate-range
missiles is eloquent proof of that.99

Thus, U.S. allies appeared to Reagan to be basically

on the same page as he. Nevertheless, another journalist said the Europeans have a great nostalgia of
dtente and asked what was Reagans message to
them at the eve of Geneva, and whats your vision of a
new detente? Limits also? Reagan replied:
If it is a real detente, if it is based on the elimination
or reduction of the suspicions that now existbut in
the past, under the guise of detente, we saw the Soviet Union engage in the greatest military buildup
in world history and at the same time that we were
supposed to be talking as if we had friendly relations
and had achieved some kind of a detente. And what
was really, finally, going on was an arms race, because
when they achieved an imbalance so great that we felt
our own security was threatened, we had to get into
the arms race. . . . And I know that Mr. Brezhnev at one
point, to his own people, publicly made the statement
that through detente they had gained enough that
they would soon, shortly, be able to have their way
and work their will throughout the world. Well, that
isnt really detente.100

In addition, Reagan continued his emphasis on

human rights during the Gorbachev period. Before a
1988 trip to Helsinki, a journalist noted that in 1975,
President Gerald Ford was criticized by going there
and signing on to something that was cause of detente, which only served the Soviet interest, as it was
198

said. How do you evaluate the document now? The

President replied:
Well, I value it very much because it specified the
agreement of a number of governments to recognize
those basic rules of freedom for people. And since our
country . . . is the first one that ever declared that government is the servant of the people, not the other way
around, we heartily endorsed it.
Right now our concern, as Im sure the concern of a
great many other people is that there has not been a
complete keeping of those pledges in that agreement
by some of the participantsby the Soviet Union, particularlyin recognizing the fundamental rights of
people to leave a country, return to a country, worship
as they will, and so forth.101

Thus, the parallels between Reagan and Carter are

preserved. Carter and Reagan are both self-consistent
across their respective presidencies, and Reagan follows Carter quite naturally in the sense that both employed the same tools. Moreover, non-superpower
parties find dtente the appropriate framework of reference throughout the presidencies of both Carter and
Reagan. It thus seems plausible to conclude that the
dtente of the 1970s never truly collapsed. On the contrary, the label of dtente was dropped, but the principles which the United States upheld and the goals
which the United States sought under the umbrella
term of dtente were pursued under Reagan as they
had been under Carter.

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CONCLUSION: DTENTE WAS

CONSUMMATED, NOT SIMPLY ENDED
At the beginning of this review, I mentioned the
civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal, and the oil crisis. I used them as examples of human, military, trust, and economic matters
of which the American public and politicians were
conscious during the Carter-Reagan era. Carters and
Reagans approaches to dtente fit neatly under these
categories. Human matters encompass human rights,
morality and ethics, and faith and religion for both
Presidents. Carter and Reagan both saw deterrence
as providing protection on one hand and order in the
world on the other. Granted, Carters military posturing was less assertive than Reagans. Nevertheless,
both recognized the importance of arms reductions
and sought to bring them about. In terms of matters of
trust, both restraint and reciprocity were high priorities for both Presidents; verifiability, although valued
by Carter, was more greatly emphasized by Reagan.
In terms of dtente, the difference between Carters
and Reagans approaches to economics was one of
degree: Carter saw economics as a tool while Reagan
saw economics as a weapon.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan did not kill dtente. Carter reaffirmed dtentes principles; restated
its essence; recast it a goal, a framework, a process;
and brought to the fore a potent mix of anthropology,
morality, and interest after the invasion just as he had
before. Moreover, as he had once hinted at a no-firstuse nuclear policy, Carter intimated a nuclear-zero
policy. If anything, Carter doubled down on dtente,
broadly conceived.

200

Reagan, in contrast, looked at dtente as a means

used by the Soviets. The bulk of Reagans critique of
dtente was directed toward the early-1970s and thus
precedes Carter; instead, Reagan criticized Carter for
lack of leadership. This distinction permitted Reagan
to preserve continuity with Carter and maintain selfconsistency: Reagan took Carters mix of perspectives
and tools but used quiet diplomacy for negotiating
from strength rather than for attempting to lead by example because, from his view of the history of defense
spending, the Soviets had not followed U.S. examples
in the past. Reagan then took principles, values, interests, morality, anthropology, and other aspects of
Carters dtente to pursue a foreign policy that sought
not only to achieve better-than-SALT-II results but to
drive the Soviet Union to the brink of collapse.
Reagan thus built on Carters dtenteand could
perhaps even be said to have completed iteven
though Reagan did not use that term to describe
his policies, goals, or approaches. Certainly, Carter
gave Reagan something on which to build. For this
reason, the continuity and complementarity of their
approaches is striking.
This viewpoint contrasts with other literature.
Much ink has been spilled on internal friction within
the two administrationsin Carters, the conflict between Secretary of State Cyrus Vance and National
Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski is often repeated; in Reagans, the Schultz-Weinberger conflict
could perhaps be diversified to a manifold contrast of
Central Intelligence Agency Director William Casey
(proxy force in Central America), the Pentagon (decisive force in Lebanon), Secretary of State George
Schultz (military power in support of diplomacy),
and Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger (threats,

201

norms, and politics). While such observations should

not be minimized, I underscore continuities between
Carter and Reagan to suggest that dtente is a story
of consummation, not collapse. Noting what is common across administrations allows differences to assume their true significance. Consider the following
literature.
Fred Halliday thoroughly reviews the Cold War
through 1985. Although he lists a number of explanations for the Cold War (which he divides into four periods: First Cold War 1946-53, Oscillatory Antagonism
1953-69, Detente 1969-79, and Second Cold War 1979
onward), Halliday assumes dtente to be the default
setting of the superpower relationship. As such, dtente is not well explained.102 For this reason, it makes
sense to rely, as I do, on Carters and Reagans public
statements to glean their understanding of dtente
and its dynamics.
Don Oberdorfers extended journalistic account
of the end of the Cold War, which he calls a contemporary history, spans 1983 to 1990. Fortified with key
informant interviews from both the U.S. and Soviet
side, some of his data were gleaned under not-forattribution ground rules. As such, Oberdorfers book
should be considered a good first account and starting
point. Although he does not offer a theory to explain
how systemic factors, ideas, and personalities came
together to form the rich history he relates, Oberdorfer leans toward highlighting the importance of the individual players who came together to negotiate and
to reassess military power.103 Bridging the coverage
of Halliday and Oberdorfer allows one to better capture Regans dtente-by-another-name approach to
Soviet policy.

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Julian Zelizer sets out to catalog national security

politics from the end of World War II to the War on Terrorism. Although he asks four overarching questions
(to which his analysis never returns and by which his
analysis is never structured), Zelizers message-in-undercurrent is that any Cold War bipartisan consensus
concerning foreign policy is a myth. If Zelizers whole
seems burdened by the sum of its parts, many of the
parts are worthwhile. In particular, Zelizer does not
see Reagan operating from a mandate, a strategic vision, or a moral vision. Rather, he sees Reagan, whose
closeness with Gorbachev made conservatives indignant, as working from a defensive posture borne out
of the challenges of governance and hampered by
the institutional and ideological obstacles that conservatives faced.104 If Zelizer is right about the lack
of bipartisan foreign policy consensus, and I believe
he is, then the continuity I find between Carter and
Reagan in strategic and moral outlook is all the more
intriguing. Moreover, if Reagans main constraints are
governance, institutional, and ideological obstacles,
then fiscal constraints fade in importanceor we need
to devote more attention to this topic than has Zelizer.
Betty Glad takes a balanced look at the workings
of Carters administration (especially at contrasting
how the gate-keeping Brzezinski, a dedicated Cold
Warrior, kept Vance, tasked to realize the more idealistic objectives of Carter, from fully engaging with
the President), but her either-or account of a shift between human rights and Cold War is too sweeping
to ring true. Nor does Glad give full credit to Carter
for having a genuine strategic vision.105 While I recognize a certain lack of clarity in Carters expressions
regarding dtente, I have tried to show his vision of
foreign policy, especially the integration of detente

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and human rights, was thought through, consistent

throughout time, and not at the mercy of internecine
disagreements or gate-keeping.
Raymond Garthoff casts dtentes apparent failure
in terms of conflicting U.S.-Soviet conceptions of dtente: The United States wanted to shepherd the Soviets into the era of parity, while the Soviets wanted
to ease the United States into a less expansive international role. Each side thus wished to manage the other
toward contrary directions. Overburdened by the
expectations both of the public and of policymakers,
adorned with general principles but bereft of specifics, the realistic political pursuits undertaken by the
United States and the USSR disillusioned those who
expected principle to be met in practice. Yet the inability to deliver upon the promise of dtente means neither that it was tried and failed nor that it was never
tried.106 In this sense, Garthoffs approach comes closest to mine. Dtente was certainly tried. I differ from
Garthoff in that I stress how Carter brings something
new to the table to modify dtenteparticularly in his
appropriation of human rights, religion, and morality grounded in his philosophical anthropologyand
how Reagan adopts and adapts much of Carters tools
to pursue dtente-like quiet diplomacy by continuing
to pursue realistic politics with openhanded offers of
competition or cooperation. Ultimately, I claim dtente
was really tried, was really modified, and ultimately
succeeded in bringing about a peaceful end to the Cold
War thanks both to Carter and to Reagan. Did Reagan
take yes for an answer from Gorbachev? Certainly
he did on the INF proposal, but only after comparable
offers of deep cuts had been rejected a decade earlier.
Dtente did not collapse: Dtente was consummated.

204

One item noteworthy by its absence is the concept

of austerity. In some sense, the approach staked out
by Reagan and Carter is austerity-independentand
not just because there is no budget line for philosophical anthropology. Consider the following point: in the
1960s, a dispirited military had little external support.
Nevertheless, by 1978, Carters proposed 8 percent
military budget increase was seen as, and criticized
for being, a lack of support for the nations military.
Under pressure, the Congress added even more funds
to Fiscal Year 1979 budgetthe first such addition
in 15 years!107 Reagans buildup followed unabated
despite the early-1980s recession. If, in a time of austerity the United States had to draw on softer power,
then Carters maneuvers at the very least prepared the
way for Reagan to integrate the harder and softer potentials of U.S. power in a balanced combination that
ultimately worked.
What conditions were necessary for dtente/quiet
diplomacy to succeed? From a material point of view,
I find compelling Carters and especially Reagans
understanding of the role of strength in a situation of
fundamental mistrusta situation in which both Presidents nevertheless sought opportunities to cooperate
with the Soviets despite taking a hard line. Nevertheless, the Soviets judged the United States under Carter
to be weak and lacking true room to maneuver, while
the Soviets judged the United States under Reagan to
be strong and capable of maneuvering freely.
This difference in perception allows us to expand
our understanding of austerity beyond financial,
economic, or budgetary austerity. I use the term existential austeritythat is, constraints arising not
from a lack of U.S. monetary resources but from a
deficit of cultural and moral capital (both in the sense

205

of ethics and in the sense of morale). Existential austerity speaks to national pride, confidence, and purpose, and the difference between Carter and Reagan
is the difference between malaise and morning in
America. Carter diagnosed, and tried to treat, a bad
case of existential austerity. He identified a crisis of
confidence . . . that strikes at the very heart and soul
and spirit of our national will.108 Although Carters
televised speech is remembered, it is forgotten that the
speech was initially well-received: only days after it
was delivered, the New York Times ran an article titled,
Speech Lifts Carter Rating to 37%; Public Agrees on
Confidence Crisis; Responsive Chord Struck.109 Nevertheless, Carter failed to capitalize on this window
of opportunity, and his request that his entire cabinet
resign likely slammed the window shut. In contrast,
Regans televised campaign advertisement reinforced
the message that the United States was prouder and
stronger and better,110 reflecting his efforts to restore
to the populace a sense of vibrant optimism. Reagan
dealt more effectively with existential austerity than
did Carter, and this effectiveness fit hand-in-glove
with traditional security concerns.
Note how the first perception mentioned previously is the Soviet perception. The adversary has a key
role, for interaction is at the very core of the concepts
of strategy and strategic interaction. Note, too,
how the previous discussion addressed the domestic
aspects of existential austerity, for conditions of existential austerity could lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy of decline. Hence, Reagans strategy included a
message to the American public that things were not
as bad as they seemed, a determination to bring all
facets of national resources and power to bear, and a
commitment to pursue both strength and conciliation
in foreign policy toward the Soviet Union.
206

In a larger sense, the Carter-Reagan story illustrates how quickly shifts in international politics can
occur. Moreover, the story demonstrates how asymmetric strategies can foster the two-step process of
retrenchment and renewal under conditions of fiscal
and existential austerity: Carter initially retrenched
fiscally but advanced on a different dimension of
power, opening a salient engagement on the humanrights front by wielding the Helsinki Accords. Reagan,
following through where Carters malaise speech began, took existential austerity seriously and balanced
pressure for the USSR with inspiration for the United
States. Foreign policy was not simply geopolitical for
these Presidents: It was purposeful and mission-based
as well. Carters shift to a moral foreign policy exemplified by human rights was continued by Reagan.
Carter and Reagan had differences (such as different approaches to economics and different emphases
on verification), yet both Presidents sought to demonstrate that U.S. foreign policy, whether dtente or
quiet diplomacy, could play a constructive purpose in
the world.
From another point of view, however, the state of
play in the international system helped Carter and
Reagan employ nonmilitary, noneconomic resources
in a way that seems less accessible to contemporary
American leaders. Then, the similarities among adversaries were greater than they are today. The Cold
War on both sides of the Iron Curtain, as Carter noted,
was centered on the European cultural universe. Both
sides shared mutually intelligible understandings not
only of science, history, and politics but of philosophy,
ethics, and religion. Moreover, outside of Europe, the
USSR was seen as atheistic, while the United States
was seen as religion-friendly, a reality which probably

207

did provide the United States the natural advantage

Carter observed previously. Finally, it was generally
recognized that the U.S. military, although not invincible, could be matched in a shooting fight only with
help from big countriesthe USSR, or at least China.
Now, the differences among adversaries surpass the
similarities. Europe, where commonality with the
United States is greatest, is no longer the focus of international struggle. Moreover, the United States is
seen as fundamentally different in the Middle and Far
East. Indeed, rights, morality, and faith mean different things in Middle and Far East than in the United
States. Furthermore, the past decade has seen much
military use in exchange for comparatively modest
achievement of aims. An important policy insight lies
herein. Nonmilitary factors were heeded and used to
advantage by Carter and Reagan. Existential austerity
may have seemed to hold sway under Carter but not
under Reagan. Perhaps the United States has become
heedless of such factors of late.
To explore existential austerity is to imply that
there are also such things as existential sufficiency and
existential abundance; in other words, there could be
societal and cultural capital sufficient or more than
sufficient to allow the pursuit of particular goals,
policies, and strategies. However, existential sufficiency or abundance does not guarantee per se the
development and implementation of better policies or
strategies: Just like fiscal and material assets, cultural
and societal assets can be misapplied or squandered.
Resources, fiscal or existential, do not in themselves
assure good policyalthough such plenty may allow
unsustainable or counterproductive policies to be pursued with greater energy, or for a longer time, or both,
than would otherwise be the case.

208

There are pressing human, military, trust, and economic issues in the United States today. Human issues include defining the institution of marriage and
reforming immigration. Military matters range from
repercussions of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to
the pivot toward Asia. The Great Recession is the economic problem which overshadows everything else.
Yet, institutional trust is perhaps the most intriguing
concern. The falling trust in U.S. institutions has culminated in 2012 with record-low confidence in public schools, organized religion, banks, and television
news; trust in Congress ranks lowest, with a scant
13 percent confidence rating. These ratings identify
sources and symptoms of current U.S. existential austerity. Three-quarters of Americans, however, are confident in the military.111
Simply stated, what are the differences between
the Carter-Reagan period and our own? Then, the
similarities between disputants were greater than the
differences; now, the opposite is true. When nonmilitary factors cannot be excluded from a rivalry, when
do nonmilitary factors dominate? Herein are the crucial questions for policymakers. One should of course
be cautious when offering evaluations, but no one less
than Napoleon Bonaparte gave moral factors a 3:1
advantage over material factors, and Napoleons contests were in a purely Western context.
ENDNOTES - CHAPTER 5
1. John F. Kennedy, Address at the University of Maine,
Orono, Maine, October 19, 1963, available from www.presidency.
ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=9483.
2. Lawrence J. Korb, The Fall and Rise of the Pentagon: American Defense Policies in the 1970s, Westport, CT, and London, UK:
Greenwood Press, 1979, pp. 143-144.
209

3. Ibid., pp. 144-145.

4. Ibid., p. 149.
5. Soviet Strategic Arms Programs and Detente: What Are
They Up To? Special National Intelligence Estimate (SNIE) No. 114-73, September 10, 1973, available from www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/89801/DOC_0000268106.pdf.
6. Wynfred Joshua, Detente in Soviet Strategy, Washington,
DC: Defense Intelligence Agency, September 2, 1975.
7. Ronald Reagan, Toasts of the President and President Jose
Lopez Portillo of Mexico at the Luncheon Honoring the Mexican
President, June 9, 1981, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=43926.
8. Ronald Reagan, The Presidents News Conference,
December 8, 1988, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=35251.
9. Jimmy Carter, United States Naval Academy Address at
the Commencement Exercises, June 7, 1978, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=30915.
10. For just one example, see Jimmy Carter, Berlin, Federal
Republic of Germany Question-and-Answer Session at a Town
Meeting, July 15, 1978, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=31087. This formulation seems to be a common stock
phrase often used by Carter at press conferences. It is often followed by concrete references; reducing or halting the buildup of
military forces in the Indian Ocean is a common one.
11. Jimmy Carter, University of Notre DameAddress at
Commencement Exercises at the University, South Bend, IN, May
22, 1977, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=7552.
12. Jimmy Carter, Charleston, South Carolina, Remarks
at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference, July 21, 1977, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=7852.

210

13. Ibid.
14. Jimmy Carter, Visit of President Perez of Venezuela
Toasts of the President and President Perez at a Dinner Honoring
the Venezuelan President, June 28, 1977, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=7738.
15. Carter, United States Naval Academy Address at the
Commencement Exercises.
16. Ibid.
17. Jimmy Carter, The State of the Union Annual Message to
the Congress, Washington, DC, January 25, 1979, available from
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=32735.
18. Jimmy Carter, Vienna Summit Meeting Joint U.S.-USSR
Communiqu, Vienna, Austria, June 18, 1979, available from
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=32497.
19. John Lewis Gaddis, Strategies of Containment: A Critical
Appraisal of American National Security Policy During the Cold War,
revised and expanded Ed., New York: Oxford University Press,
2005, p. 347.
20. Carter, United States Naval Academy Address at the
Commencement Exercises.
21. Jimmy Carter, Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany, Toast
at the State Dinner, July 14, 1978, available from www.presidency.
ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=31083.
22. Jimmy Carter, Interview with the President Questionand-Answer Session with West German Reporters, July 11, 1978,
available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=31057.
23. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Western European Television Correspondents on the Presidents Trip to Europe, June 1,
1982, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=42592.

211

24. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Representatives of the

Washington Times, November 27, 1984, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=39441.
25. Just peace theory, so named to contrast with just war
theory, contends that the good example of unilateral disarmament will so impress potential adversaries that they will follow
suit and disarm, too.
26. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Foreign Journalists, May
31, 1984, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=40006.
27. Jimmy Carter, The Presidents News Conference, June
13, 1977, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=7670.
28. Carter, Charleston, South Carolina Remarks at the 31st
Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference.
29. Jimmy Carter, Interview with the President Remarks and
a Question-and-Answer Session with American Press Institute
Editors, January 27, 1978, available from www.presidency.ucsb.
edu/ws/?pid=29850.
30. Jimmy Carter, North Atlantic Alliance Summit Remarks
at the Opening Ceremonies, May 30, 1978, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=30868.
31. Carter, Charleston, South Carolina Remarks at the 31st
Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference.
32. Jimmy Carter, American Retail Federation Remarks at a
White House Breakfast, Washington, DC, May 10, 1979, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=32318.
33. Carter, Charleston, South Carolina Remarks at the 31st
Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid.

212

36. Carter, University of Notre DameAddress at Commencement Exercises at the University.

37. Carter, Charleston, South Carolina Remarks at the 31st
Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference.
38. Jimmy Carter, Spokane, Washington, Remarks and a
Question-and-Answer Session at a Town Meeting, May 5, 1978,
available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=30757.
39. Jimmy Carter, Interview with the President Remarks and
a Question-and-Answer Session with Representatives of the Hispanic Media, May 12, 1978, available from www.presidency.ucsb.
edu/ws/?pid=30794.
40. Carter, Charleston, South Carolina Remarks at the 31st
Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference. Carter
is quoting Romans 14:9 as translated in the King James Version of
the Bible.
41. Jimmy Carter, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, Remarks at a Wreathlaying Ceremony at the Airlift Memorial, July
15, 1978, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=31086.
42. Ronald Reagan, The Presidents News Conference,
January 29, 1981, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=44101.
43. Ronald Reagan, Remarks to Members of the National
Press Club on Arms Reduction and Nuclear Weapons, November
18, 1981, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=43264.
44. Ronald Reagan, Remarks of President Reagan and President Luis Herrera Campins of Venezuela Following Their Meetings, November 18, 1981, available from www.presidency.ucsb.
edu/ws/?pid=43266.
45. Ronald Reagan, Documents Issued at the Conclusion of
the North Atlantic Council Meetings Held in Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany, June 10, 1982, available from www.presidency.
ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=42621.

213

46. Ronald Reagan, Remarks in New York City Before the

United Nations General Assembly Special Session Devoted to
Disarmament, June 17, 1982, available from www.presidency.ucsb.
edu/ws/?pid=42644.
47. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Henry Brandon of
the London Sunday Times and News Service on Domestic and
Foreign Policy Issues, March 18, 1983, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=41072.
48. Ronald Reagan, Interview with American and Foreign
Journalists at the Williamsburg Economic Summit Conference in
Virginia, May 31, 1983, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=41406.
49. Ronald Reagan, Address Before the 38th Session of the
United Nations General Assembly in New York, New York,
September 26, 1983, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=40523.
50. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Brian Farrell of RTE-Television, Dublin, Ireland, on Foreign Issues, May 28, 1984, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=39976.
51. Ronald Reagan, Address at Commencement Exercises
at Eureka College in Illinois, May 9, 1982, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=42501.
52. Ronald Reagan: Interview with Representatives of Western European Publications, May 21, 1982, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=42572.
53. Ibid.
54. Ronald Reagan, The Presidents News Conference,
November 11, 1982, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=41985.
55. Ibid.

214

56. Ronald Reagan, Responses to Questions Submitted by

Latin American Newspapers, November 30, 1982, available from
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=42046.
57. Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Recommissioning Ceremony for the U.S.S. New Jersey in Long Beach, California,
December 28, 1982, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=42153.
58. Ronald Reagan, Debate Between the President and
Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale in Kansas City, Missouri, October 21, 1984, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=39296.
59. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Western European Television Correspondents on the Presidents Trip to Europe, June 1,
1982, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=42592.
60. Ronald Reagan, The Presidents News Conference, January 9, 1985, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=38344.
61. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Morton Kondracke and
Richard H. Smith of Newsweek Magazine, March 4, 1985, available
from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=38303.
62. Ronald Reagan, The Presidents News Conference,
January 29, 1981, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=44101.
63. Ronald Reagan, Excerpts From an Interview with Walter
Cronkite of CBS News , March 3, 1981, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=43497.
64. Ronald Reagan, Remarks on Signing the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 and the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation
Act of 1981, and a Question-and-Answer Session with Reporters, August 13, 1981, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=44161.
65. Ronald Reagan, Remarks and a Question-and-Answer
Session at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, December
16, 1988, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=35272.

215

66. Carter, United States Naval Academy Address at the

Commencement Exercises.
67. Ibid.
68. Carter, Charleston, South Carolina Remarks at the 31st
Annual Meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference.
69. Jimmy Carter, Vienna Summit Meeting Toast at a Working Dinner Hosted by the Soviet Delegation, June 17, 1979, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=32494.
70. Jimmy Carter, Portola Valley, California Remarks at a
Democratic National Committee Fundraising Dinner, July 3,
1980, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=44727.
71. Ibid.
72. Jimmy Carter, Meeting with Student Leaders Remarks
and a Question-and-Answer Session, February 15, 1980, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=32938.
73. Jimmy Carter, Interview with the President Remarks
and a Question-and-Answer Session with Magazine Editors,
February 15, 1980, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=32946.
74. Jimmy Carter, Visit of Chancellor Schmidt of the Federal
Republic of Germany Toasts at the State Dinner, March 5, 1980,
available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=33110.
75. Ibid.
76. Jimmy Carter, The State of the Union Address Delivered
Before a Joint Session of the Congress, 23 January 1980, available
from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=33079&st=&st1=.
77. Jimmy Carter, Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President, New
York: Bantam Books, 1982, p. 483.

216

78. Quoted in Robert Jay Lifton and Greg Mitchell, Hiroshima in America: Fifty Years of Denial, New York: G. P. Putnam,
1995, p. 220.
79. Barry Blechman and Douglas Hart, Dangerous Shortcuts, New Republic, July 26, 1980, pp. 14-15.
80. Jimmy Carter, American Society of Newspaper Editors
Remarks and a Question-and-Answer Session at the Societys Annual Convention, April 10, 1980, available from www.presidency.
ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=33248.
81. Ibid.
82. Jimmy Carter: Interview with the President Questionand-Answer Session with Foreign Correspondents, April 12,
1980, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=33269.
83. Ibid.
84. Ronald Reagan, Remarks and a Question-and-Answer
Session at a Luncheon with Radio and Television Journalists, June
8, 1988, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=35945.
85. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Representatives of College Radio Stations, September 9, 1985, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=39083.
86. Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Annual Convention
of the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas, Nevada, April 10, 1988, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=35650.
87. Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, January
11, 1989, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29650.
88. Ronald Reagan, Remarks and a Question-and-Answer
Session with Students and Faculty at Gordon Technical High
School in Chicago, Illinois, October 10, 1985, available from
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=37893.

217

89. Ronald Reagan, Address Before a Joint Session of the

Congress Following the Soviet-United States Summit Meeting in
Geneva, November 21, 1985, available from www.presidency.ucsb.
edu/ws/?pid=38088.
90. Ronald Reagan, Written Responses to Questions Submitted by Deutsche Presse-Agentur of the Federal Republic of
Germany, June 2, 1987, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=34366.
91. Ronald Reagan, Remarks and a Question-and-Answer
Session with Area High School Seniors in Jacksonville, Florida, December 1, 1987, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=33751.
92. Jimmy Carter, Visit of Prime Minister Andreotti of Italy
Toasts of the President and Prime Minister Andreotti at a Dinner
Honoring the Prime Minister, July 26, 1977, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=7873.
93. Ibid.
94. Jimmy Carter, Visit of Prime Minister Barre of France Remarks of the President and the Prime Minister at a Working Dinner for the Prime Minister, September 15, 1977, available from
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=6639.
95. Jimmy Carter, New Delhi, India Toasts of the President
and President N. S. Reddy at a State Dinner, January 2, 1978,
available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=30733.
96. Jimmy Carter, Lagos, Nigeria Toasts at the State Dinner, April 2, 1978, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=30605.
97. Jimmy Carter, Visit of President Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia Remarks at the Welcoming Ceremony, March 7, 1978,
available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=30462.
98. Jimmy Carter, Visit Of President Tito of Yugoslavia
Toasts at the State Dinner, March 7, 1978, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=30463.

218

99. Ronald Reagan, Written Responses to Questions Submitted by Il Tempo of Italy, May 23, 1985, available from www.
presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=38690.
100. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Foreign Broadcasters
on the Upcoming Soviet-United States Summit Meeting in Geneva, November 12, 1985, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=38044.
101. Ronald Reagan, Interview with Foreign Television Journalists, May 19, 1988, available from www.presidency.ucsb.edu/
ws/?pid=35848.
102. Fred Halliday, The Making of the Cold War, 2nd Ed.,
London, UK: Verso Editions and NLB, 1986.
103. Don Oberdorfer, The Turn: From the Cold War to the New
Era, The United States and the Soviet Union 1983-1990, New York:
Poseidon Press, 1991.
104. Julian E. Zelizer, Arsenal of Democracy: The Politics of
National SecurityFrom World War II to the War on Terrorism, New
York: Basic Books, 2010, p. 354.
105. Betty Glad, An Outsider in the White House: Jimmy Carter,
His Advisors, and the Making of American Foreign Policy, Ithaca, NY:
Cornell University Press, 2009.
106. Raymond L. Garthoff, Dtente and Confrontation: American-Soviet Relations from Nixon to Reagan, Rev. Ed., Washington,
DC: The Brookings Institution Press, 1994.
107. Korb, p. xv.
108. Jimmy Carter, Address to the Nation on Energy and National Goals: The Malaise Speech, July 15, 1979, available from
www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=32596.
109. Adam Clymer, Speech Lifts Carter Rating to 37%; Public Agrees on Confidence Crisis; Responsive Chord Struck, New
York Times, July 18, 1979, p. A1.

219

110. A digital audiovisual copy entitled Ronald Reagan TV

Ad: Its morning in america again [sic], available from www.
youtube.com/watch?v=EU-IBF8nwSY. The official name of the advertisement is Prouder, Stronger, Better.
111. Catherine Rampell, Losing Faith in American Institutions, Economix: Explaining the Science of Everyday Life (blog), New
York Times, June 21, 2012, available from economix.blogs.nytimes.
com/2012/06/21/losing-faith-in-american-institutions/. See also Jeffrey M. Jones, Confidence in U.S. Public Schools at New Low:
Confidence also at new lows for organized religion, banks, and
TV news, Gallup Politics (blog), June 20, 2012, available from
www.gallup.com/poll/155258/Confidence-Public-Schools-New-Low.
aspx. The methodology, full questions, and trend data are available from www.gallup.com/file/poll/155261/Confidence_Institutions_
Overview_120620.pdf.

220

CHAPTER 6
IS IT TIME FOR RETRENCHMENT?
THE BIG DEBATE ON AMERICAN GRAND
STRATEGY
Ionut C. Popescu
The U.S. grand strategy since the end of the Cold
War has been premised on the overarching idea that
Washington can and should act as the preeminent
global power, and that it is in its best interest to bear
the costs of maintaining this position of leadership
and keep protecting and expending the current international order for as long as possible. Whether this vision for American grand strategy has been successful
or not continues to be a matter of intense debate in
the academic community, but, for better or worse, the
majority of leading policymakers in both parties subscribed to this view of U.S. leadership. In recent years,
however, a series of events (the prolonged expensive
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the financial crisis/
Great Recession, the looming debt crisis) led more and
more scholars to call for a major shift from the current
grand strategy of global leadership to a less ambitious
and (arguably) less expensive one of retrenchment and
restraint. While many of these voices called for such
a shift throughout the post-Cold War era, their arguments are gaining more traction now in the context of
an increasing concern with the possibility of Americas decline from its place as the sole superpower due
to its economic problems at home and the relative rise
of other powers abroad. The most recent wave in the
literature on American decline increases the appeal
of a grand strategy of retrenchment as a suitable re-

221

sponse to such a shift in the strategic environment,

but the debate is far from settled. The current grand
strategy continues to hold a great appeal for most Republican policymakers and opinion shapers, and for a
significant number of Democratic ones. At times, the
Barack Obama administration found itself in the first
category, and at other times it went in the opposite
direction.1
Throughout the 1990s post-Cold War era, scholars have generally identified four major theoretical
schools of thought in American grand strategy: primacy/hegemony, institutional liberalism, selective
engagement, and offshore balancing/isolationism.2 In
the last few years, however, the debate found advocates of the four schools largely selecting themselves
into two broad categories, which could be called Renewal and Retrenchment. As Barry Posen, Christopher
Layne, and Peter Feaver independently observed, the
differences between advocates of primacy and institutional liberalism are more of nuance than of principle
and their actual policies when in office are largely
similar: Both the leadership of Republican and Democratic parties converged on a grand strategic approach
of global leadership and international activism that replaced the Cold War era Containment.3 The advocates
of continuing this grand strategy, with minor adaptations, favor Renewal. On the other side of the debate,
the critics of this strategy (found among advocates of
the former categories of selective engagement, offshore balancing, and isolationism) represent a growing chorus calling for a Retrenchment grand strategy,
which would represent a significant shift from the
grand strategy of global leadership and international
activism to one focused on reducing international
commitments and the range of interests to be pur-

222

sued abroad. These critics have recently been joined

in their advocacy of restraint by influential members
of the Washington foreign policy establishment such
as Fareed Zakaria or Richard Haass, thus giving their
arguments more prominence in Washington circles
than used to be the case.
Therefore, the first and most important axis of
disagreement at the highest level of analysis is between continuing an approach predicated on American global leadership and primacy, albeit with some
small changes to account for certain recent developmentsthe Renewal optionor instead shift to a
grand strategy of restraint and much more selective
engagement with the outside world, the Retrenchment option. Broadly speaking, the advocates of Renewal fall into two further subcategories: the Republican-leaning primacy advocates who emphasize U.S.
exceptionalism and are more comfortable with the
use of military force, and the Democratic-leaning liberal institutionalists who favor more multilateral approaches to the use of force and as a general principle
of foreign policy. The advocates of Retrenchment also
vary to some degree on the extent to which they think
this restraint should dominate U.S. foreign policy,
from a more selective engagement view at one end
to neo-isolationism at the other. The chapter will present both of these views and highlight the differences
among their advocates.
The Renewal and Retrenchment advocates disagree on both their assessment of the external strategic environment, and also on their view of the domestic conditions impacting U.S. behavior on the world
stage. This chapter will detail how the advocates of
each grand strategy disagree on these two main axes
of analysisinternal and external assessments of the

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constraints on U.S. grand strategy. In addition, the

chapter also highlights two other contested areas
about which the Renewal and the Retrenchment advocates have contrasting views: the size and shape of
the defense budget and the idea of a uniquely American role in the global promotion of democracy and
human rights.
RETRENCHMENT VS. RENEWAL
Overview.
The grand strategy of Retrenchment has become
more and more present in public debates because it
claims to allow the United States to secure its interests at a lower cost than the current grand strategy,
and moreover it claims to represent a necessary adaptation to what many perceive to be an unavoidable
geopolitical shift in international power from a period
of unipolarity to a more multipolar world.4 These
two overarching principles, an emphasis on shifting
resources from foreign to domestic priorities and a
view of America as inexorably declining in power and
influence, are common across the variety of scholars
and analysts who favor Retrenchment, and they represent two of the most fundamental differences with
the proponents of Renewal. In addition to these two
main issues, the Retrenchment grand strategy also
differs from the current grand strategy in two other
critical ways derived from these two core assumptions. First, they advocate a reduced range of missions
for U.S. military forces in both geographic focus and
also in the kinds of conflicts they should prepare for
fighting. Second, Retrenchment is grounded in skepticism about American exceptionalism and Washing-

224

tons unique leadership role in defending freedom,

democracy, and human rights. One subtle difference
between advocates of Retrenchment in the academic
world and those in the policy community and think
tank world is that the latter tend to view it as a prelude to further renewal once America gets its internal house in order, while the former would favor a
permanent retrenchment to a role of a great power
among many. Therefore, the grand strategic ends of
the Retrenchment advocates in the policy world are
not so different than the ones favored by proponents
of Renewal, but the former have a much longer time
frame to achieve them and consider a short-term retrenchment to be necessary.
The advocates of a grand strategy of Renewal consider that the global leadership role played by the
United States since the end of World War II served
the American people remarkably well, and despite
certain important domestic and international challenges facing Washington in both the short and long
terms, a continuation of a grand strategy predicated
on U.S. leadership of a liberal world order is still both
possible and desirable.5 In their internal assessment
of U.S. strength, advocates of Renewal judge that the
United States has the needed resources to finance such
a grand strategy, as long as it is willing to address
some structural problems independent of the realm
of national security and foreign policy, i.e., the rise in
the costs of entitlement programs, particularly in the
health sector. Renewal proponents also differ in their
view of American decline and the emerging shape
of the international system: rather than perceiving a
significant shift from unipolarity to multipolarity or
nonpolarity, they generally continue to believe that
the United States can and should maintain its current

225

primacy for at least the next few decades as long as it

chooses to implement the needed policies to achieve
this, rather than becoming complacent and making
decline a self-fulfilling prophesy. The greatest policy debate nowadays among the advocates of Renewal
and Retrenchment is in the realm of defense strategy and spending, where the former are attempting
to limit, or better yet reverse, the spending cuts proposed by the Obama administration. Lastly, advocates
of Renewal are also worried that Retrenchment would
lead to an abandonment of the traditional belief in
American exceptionalism as it pertains to a vigorous
promotion of American values such as political and
economic freedom and the defense of human rights in
the face of gross abuses such as the ones in Syria.
Internal Assessment.
Retrenchment: The current grand strategy is now unaffordable; the United States needs to curtail spending on
defense and foreign affairs, and shift economic resources to
domestic priorities.
A grand strategy of Retrenchment is needed, according to its proponents, because U.S. current and
projected future economic circumstances make it unaffordable to stay on the current path, particularly when
it comes to defense spending. In a recent book-length
treatment of this particular issue, Michael Mandelbaum argues that the economic recession precipitated by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September
2008, together with the impact of rising government
spending on so-called entitlements (i.e., Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) and interest payments
on ever-higher levels of debt, represent a watershed

226

change in American grand strategy: an era of scarcity

has arrived that will impose serious limits on what the
United States will be able to do abroad. As a result of
all of these trends:
American foreign policy will change in a fundamental way. . . . The international activities of ordinary
countries are restrained by, among other things, the
need to devote the bulk of their collective resources
to domestic projects, such as roads, schools, pensions,
and health care. For decades, the United States was exceptional in remaining free of such restraints, and the
foreign policies that this freedom made possible did a
great deal to shape the world of the 21st century. That
era is now ending. In the future the United States will
behave more like an ordinary country.6

The new limits call for a reduction in the scope of

American grand strategy, at the very least until the
United States will recover its economic strength and
vitality at home. This trade-off between guns and
butter is now more acute than in the past, the advocates of Retrenchment argue, and it is time to refocus
government spending toward nation-building here
at home, as President Obama called it on more than
one occasion. Moreover, he regards a fairer society and
economy as key preconditions for economic renewal
and the ability to compete internationally, and therefore he considers more traditional domestic policy
choices in the realm of taxation, education, and infrastructure as having a clear impact on Americas ability
to have a global leadership role in foreign affairs in the
long run. Echoing this theme is Richard Haass advocacy for a foreign policy doctrine of restoration: The
goal would be to rebalance the resources devoted to
domestic challenges, as opposed to international ones,

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in favor of the former.7 Similarly, Charles Kupchan

argues that the United States must rebalance means
and ends by pursuing a judicious retrenchment; the
nation needs to bring its strategic commitments back
into line with its interests, resources, and public will.
More specifically, leadership abroad must be first preceded by a series of domestic measures:
Reviving economic growth, reducing unemployment
and income inequality, improving education. . . . The
first principle of a progressive agenda is that political
and economic renewal at home is the indispensable
foundation for strength abroad.8

In an article penned by two military strategists under the pseudonym of Mr. Y, a reference to George
Kennans famous X Article, the authors make the same
point that the United States needs a new grand strategy of sustainment, by which they mean a strategy
that refocuses American efforts from international to
domestic priorities:
We need to focus on sustaining ourselves in ways that
build our strengths and underpin credible influence.
That shift in turn means that the starting point for our
strategy should be internal rather than external. The
2010 National Security Strategy did indeed focus on
national renewal and global leadership, but this account makes an even stronger case for why we have
to focus first and foremost on investing our resources
domestically in those national resources that can be
sustained, such as our youth and our natural resources (ranging from crops, livestock, and potable water to
sources of energy and materials for industry).9

Lastly, Fareed Zakaria welcomes the deep cuts to

defense spending, even if they would rise to $600-

228

$700 billion in addition to the ones already enacted,

because he believes this will lead to a less militaristic
foreign policy:
Let the guillotine fall. It would be a much-needed
adjustment to an out-of-control military-industrial
complex. . . . Defense budget cuts would also force a
healthy rebalancing of American foreign policy. Since
the Cold War, Congress has tended to fatten the Pentagon while starving foreign policy agencies. . . . The
result is a warped American foreign policy, ready to
conceive of problems in military terms and present a
ready military solution.10

Renewal: The United States faces serious budgetary

problems due to domestic entitlements and a slow recovery,
but it cannot and should not try to solve the fiscal crisis by
turning inwards and abandon its role as global superpower:
defense and foreign affairs spending at present levels is still
affordable and well worth it.
The advocates of Renewal counter the Retrenchment view of the need to shift resources from foreign
to domestic priorities by bringing up two main counterarguments. First, the roots of the fiscal crisis lie outside the realm of increases in defense spending, which
are only a drop in the bucket compared to entitlements, and so the solution also lies in addressing the
unsustainable trends in domestic programs. Second,
the current investment in maintaining Americas role
as global superpower is still a very good deal compared to the potential costs of failing to continue to
support the current U.S.-shaped world order. Many
advocates of Renewal, particularly the ones on the Republican side of the political spectrum, are also traditionally skeptical that federal spending on infrastruc-

229

ture projects or education is key to Americas future

economic success, and therefore they are less inclined
to accept the need to reduce foreign affairs spending in order to allow for more resources to go into
those areas.
The overarching mantra of the Renewal advocates
was well captured by Charles Krauthammer, who
introduced to Washingtons policy community a few
years ago the slogan that Decline is a Choice.11 In a
recent book arguing against the wisdom of Retrenchment, Karl Lieber elaborates in extensive detail on this
particular point of the importance of political leadership and policy choices on whether the United States
will move away from its current place of world leader
or not. He criticizes Mandelbaums thesis that the
United States must reduce foreign spending in order
to pay for domestic programs, by highlighting that
this would be a choice leaders need to make between
alternative options, not something inevitable.12 As he
sees it, Americas ability to avoid serious decline and
the significant international retrenchment that would
be a result of severely reduced resources becomes a
matter of policy and will.13 Tom Donnelly also echoes
this criticism of assuming that U.S. leaders have no
choice but to succumb to international Retrenchment,
and he goes on to make the case that Washingtons
current and future fiscal problems have little to do
with defense spending:
Conventional wisdom in Washington has it that we
are now in an Age of Austerityat least when it
comes to defense budgetsas though it were a geological fact rather than a political choice.To be sure,
the federal governments finances are a mess. But
what is destroying the balance sheet is the growth
of entitlements and other forms of mandatory

230

spending, not military spending. The facts are that

the Pentagon consumes about 20 percent of federal
spending and less than 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP); mandatory spending is about 60
percent of federal spending and getting close to 15
percent of GDP. Thanks to slow economic growth
and aging Baby Boomers, those pie slices are getting
ever bigger. The current defense budget debate is an
example of looking through the wrong end of the
telescope.14

In addition to arguing that maintaining the current

level of spending is affordable because it represents a
small share of overall government spending, Renewal
advocates also argue that this commitment is worth it
because it helps sustain a global leadership role that
served America and the world well for the better part
of 7 decades. As Robert Kagan put it:
Whatever the nature of the current economic difficulties, the past 6 decades have seen a greater increase
in global prosperity than any time in human history.
Hundreds of millions have been lifted out of poverty.
Once-backward nations have become economic dynamos. And the American economy, though suffering
ups and downs throughout this period, has on the
whole benefited immensely from this international
order. One price of this success has been maintaining
a sufficient military capacity to provide the essential
security underpinnings of this order. But has the price
not been worth it? In the first half of the 20th century,
the United States found itself engaged in two world
wars. In the second half, this global American strategy helped produce a peaceful end to the great-power
struggle of the Cold War and then 20 more years of
great-power peace. Looked at coldly, simply in terms
of dollars and cents, the benefits of that strategy far
outweigh the costs.The danger, as always, is that we
dont even realize the benefits our strategic choices
have provided.15
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The United States is indeed facing a crisis because of reckless spending at home, but Washington
leaders could make this problem worse by abandoning a grand strategy that proved successful over the
decades:
The United States may be in peril because of its spiraling deficits and mounting debt, but it will be in even
greater peril if, out of some misguided sense that our
national security budgets must share the pain, we
weaken ourselves even further.16

External Assessment.
Retrenchment: The geopolitical landscape is moving
away from unipolarity, and Retrenchment is a grand strategy better suited for the coming multipolar world.
In addition to being considered too expensive
given the demands of other competing domestic priorities, the current grand strategy is also considered
by Retrenchment advocates to be ill-suited for the
emerging multipolar structure of the international
system. The United States is declining as a nation
and a world power,17 as Leslie Gelb began one of his
Foreign Affairs articles, and therefore American officials are well advised to adapt their strategy to this
new state of affairs where Washington is no longer
the sole superpower in a unipolar world.18 The theme
of American decline dominated the pages of prominent foreign policy journals such as Foreign Policy and
Foreign Affairs in the past few years, and a number of
books made the case that Americas so-called unipolar moment is over, and, as two authors have put it,
this time is for real.19
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Christopher Layne, one of the foremost advocates

of Retrenchment for the past decade, wrote earlier this
year that the Pentagons latest Defense Strategic Guidance (DSG) finally implies a recognition that a profound power shift in international politics is taking
place, which compels a rethinking of the U.S. world
role. Layne, echoing arguments made by other proponents of Retrenchment such as prominent academic
realists John Mearsheimer, Stephen Walt, Robert Pape,
and Barry Posen, describes two drivers that should
compel the United States to move from the current
leadership/primacy approach to one of offshore balancing and restraint:
First, the United States is in economic decline and will
face a serious fiscal crisis by the end of this decade. . .
. The second driver behind the new Pentagon strategy
is the shift in global wealth and power from the EuroAtlantic world to Asia. As new great powers such as
China and, eventually, India emerge, important regional powers such as Russia, Japan, Turkey, Korea,
South Africa and Brazil will assume more prominent
roles in international politics. . . . The country needs
to adjust to the world of 2025 when China will be the
number-one economy and spending more on defense
than any other nation. . . . The central strategic preoccupation of the United States during the next 2 decades will be its own decline and Chinas rise.20

Finally, Layne predicts that the DSG is the first

move in what figures to be a dramatic strategic retrenchment by the United States over the next 2 decades, and the triumph of the offshore balancing he
and other realists have been arguing for in anticipation of the coming multipolar world.21
Other scholars and commentators who favor a
slightly more active U.S. involvement than the aca233

demic adherents of offshore balancing, a group who

would fall under the selective engagement category in the 1990s, nevertheless now echo the same
theme of a profound shift in the configuration of the
international system requiring a change in U.S. grand
strategy. Bruce Jentleson talks about a Copernican
World that no longer has the United States at its center as a Ptolomeic system had in the past.22 In this
new world configuration where diffusion of power
(both hard and soft) is away from the United States
toward the East and South, Washington will need to
learn to accept important new limits. In response to
the accusation of being a declinist that is made by
proponents of primacy against people who advocate a
lesser U.S. role, Jentleson calls them in return denialists for failing to account for what he perceives as a
fundamental shift in world politics. Robert Art, one
of the most eloquent advocates of selective engagement as a grand strategy, began a recent update of
his grand strategy with the contention that Americas
unipolar moment is over. It began with the breakup
of the Soviet Union in December 1991 and ended
with the collapse of Lehman Brothers on September
15, 2008.23 He contends that the diffusion of power,
combined with Americas fiscal crisis, will force it to
do less than it was able to do in the past, particularly
when it comes to forceful exercises in nation-building.
Lastly, Joseph Parent and Paul MacDonald recently
argued a common theme for Retrenchment advocates in Foreign Affairs by stating that As other states
rise in prominence, the United States undisciplined
spending habits and open-ended foreign policy commitments are catching up with the country, and that
the United States has fallen into a familiar pattern
for hegemonic powers: overconsumption, overexten-

234

sion, and over-optimism. As such, its leaders need

to fully embrace retrenchment as a policy and endorse deep spending cuts (especially to the military),
redefine Washingtons foreign policy priorities, and
shift more of the United States defense burdens onto
its allies.24
Renewal: The United States will be able retain its position as sole superpower for at least the next few decades, and
therefore it continues to be best served by a grand strategy
of primacy and global leadership.
The recent wave of literature on American decline
is accompanied by a new wave of anti-declinist arguments.25 The scholars and commentators who argue
America will continue to retain its position as the
worlds most important actor do not deny that its relative advantage across certain domains of power, such
as economic power, has diminished in recent years.
However, they contend that America retains other
advantages, for example in superb military power,
an entrepreneurship culture and higher education,
new technology fields, natural resources, immigration, and demographics, which, when taken together,
leads them to believe the United States will continue
to be in a class of its own in the near- to medium-term.
Even on economics, they are skeptical of forecasts assuming a continuation of linear growth on the part of
rising challengers such as China, and point out to the
very poor records of such forecasts in the past and to
Chinas many potential problems that could derail its
ascent. If America can get its own house in order by
addressing its fiscal imbalances, there is no reason to
expect the United States to be any less dominant in the
coming decades as it has been in the recent ones.

235

In a study designed to explain Americas contested primacy and to examine critically the notion
of American decline, Eric Edelman examined systematically the United States and all its other potential
competitors (China, India, Russia, Brazil, and Europe)
across a number of dimensions of power, including
economic, military, demographic, soft power, and
others. Summarizing his findings, he writes that:
The period of unipolarity has been based on a singular
fact: the United States is the first leading state in modern international history with decisive preponderance
in all the underlying components of power: economic,
military, technological, and geopolitical. With the possible exception of Brazil, all the other powers face serious internal and external security challenges. Japan,
with its economic and demographic challenges, must
deal with a de facto nuclear-armed, failing state (the
DPRK [the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea])
nearby and must also cast an uneasy glance at a rising China. India has domestic violence, insurgencies
in bordering countries (Nepal and Bangladesh) and
a persistent security dilemma with respect to China.
The demographic challenges will be particularly acute
for Europe, Japan, and Russia in the areas of military
manpower and economic growth. The results will
either diminish overall military strength or, in the
case of Russia, impose a greater reliance on nuclear
weapons.26

His conclusion is that:

it seems likely that U.S. predominance could continue
in a unipolar system, albeit one where U.S. hegemony
is less clear than it was in the 1990s. In this iteration,
however, American primacy will be more constrained
by U.S. domestic and international economic limitations and more contested by regional powers.27

236

The same broad conclusion is reached by Stephen

Brooks and William Wohlforth in their book on the
topic of U.S. primacy and the continued unipolarity
of the international system: Since the dissolution of
the Soviet Union, no other powernot Japan, China,
India, or Russia, nor any European country, nor the
EU (European Union)has increased its capabilities
sufficiently to transform itself into a pole.28 The rise
of China in particular has been hotly debated in recent
years, as anti-declinists countering the narrative the
Chinas inexorable rise will change the configuration
of the international system away from unipolarity.29
Writing in Foreign Affairs, Josef Joffe argues that the
current crop of declinist literature is no more persuasive than previous waves of this recurring argument
about the end of Americas supremacy, the fifth such
wave in the past 60 years by his count. He presents data
showing that the United States is still far and away the
largest economy and the largest military power, and
casting doubt on the trend analysis of the declinists.
He has two objections to the analysis performed by
Goldman Sachs and others who show China overtaking the United States in the next decade or two, a statistic often quoted by proponents of Retrenchment such
as Fareed Zakaria or Christopher Layne. First, such
predictions are based on a Purchasing Power Parity
(PPP) measure of GDP, which greatly inflates Chinas
GDP: for example, in 2009 Chinas GDP of 5 trillion
at market exchange value become 9.1 trillion in PPP
terms.30 As Joffe states, however, such comparisons
are very problematic when talking about a countrys
geopolitical clout:

237

global standing is not measured by the low prices of

nontradable goods, such as haircuts, bootlegged software, and government services. Think instead about
advanced technology, energy, raw materials, and the
cost of higher education in the West. These items are
critical for growth and must be procured on the world
market. Influence bought abroad, say, through foreign
aid, also comes at exchangerate prices, as does imported hightech weaponry.31

Second, he criticizes the trendline analysis of U.S.

and Chinas rates of growth for assuming that Beijing
would be able to keep its current high rates (by historical standards), and offers a counter-hypothetical
scenario:
Perhaps it is time to play a different round of the
compoundinterest game so beloved by the declinists.
Assuming Chinas economy grows at seven percent
twice the historical rate of the United StatesChinas
GDP will double between 2007 and 2015, from $3.3
trillion to $6.6 trillion, and then double again by 2025,
to $13.2 trillion. By that time, assuming 3.5 percent annual growth for the United States (the historical average), U.S. GDP will have grown to $28 trillion. Given
the myriad challenges China faces, this scenario is
more realistic than projections based on Chinas recent
growth rates. China, it seems, still has a way to go before it can dethrone the United States.32

Proponents of Renewal generally agree on their

assessment of Americas continued preeminence and
the need for continued U.S. leadership, but they differ
somewhat on what marginal modifications are needed to the current grand strategy. Republican-leaning
commentators worry about the recent loss of American influence in the Middle East at the same time that
Iran is gaining in influence in that region. They are
238

also less concerned with strengthening the United

Nations (UN) and more focused on bilateral relations
with like-minded countries. Democratic-leaning commentators worry more about creating institutions and
mechanisms for the current liberal world order that
would remain in place even at some later point in the
future when the United States will not be the sole superpower anymore. John Ikenberry argues that liberal order building should be the main focus of U.S.
grand strategy:
[W]e should be planting the roots of a liberal international order as deeply as possible . . . The United States
should work with others to rebuild and renew the international foundations of the liberal international order, and, along the way, reestablish its own authority
as a global leader.33

Anne-Marie Slaughter frames the institutional arrangement rather differently, in terms of networks
rather than organizations of states, but the final goal
of placing the United States at the center of a liberal
world order is the same:
strategists should analyze states as the principal hubs
of intersecting regional and global networks instead of
as poles in a unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar system. A
states ability to position itself as close to the center of
critical networks as possible and to mobilize, orchestrate, and create networks will prove a vital source of
power. The United States should thus strive to be the
most central nodethe supernodein the networks
that are most important to advancing its interests and
that are most connected to other networks.34

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How Much Military Force Is Enough?

Retrenchment: The United States should reduce its hegemonic ambitions as global security guarantor and instead
focus on keeping the balance of power in key regions mainly
by air and naval capabilities.
The most important policy change a Retrenchment
grand strategy would bring from a practical perspective in the near term would be a reduction in the size
and capabilities of the U.S. military, and consequently
in the missions U.S. armed forces would be expected
to carry out. Rather than investing in second-to-none
capabilities across the spectrum of military conflict and across all domains of combat (conventional
and unconventional, land, sea, air, space, and cyber
space), the advocates of Retrenchment would divest
from Landpower in particular, and from some of the
air, space, and naval capabilities outside of the three
key geopolitical regions mentioned previously. They
argue that the lessons of the last decade are that land
campaigns such as Afghanistan or Iraq are too expensive for the benefits they could bring and that it would
be sufficient for the United States to rely on its air and
sea power to project power in a few key regions. In
addition to avoiding land conflicts, the advocates of
Retrenchment also generally do not believe it is wise
for the United States to strive for global military hegemony in every part of the world: balance of power,
not U.S. dominance, should be the main goal driving
force requirements. On this particular point, the advocates of Retrenchment generally divide into two subschools of thought, with offshore balancers being
more willing to advocate deep military cuts across the
board than selective engagers.35 The main difference

240

is that the former would have the U.S. military retreat

from many forward deployed positions, while the latter would not. However, both groups agree with the
shift from Landpower to naval and air power, and
with the need to reduce the overall level of spending
on defense.
Among the proponents of Retrenchment, Richard
Betts has recently summarized their case for a new
defense posture very eloquently: a near-term military
retrenchment requires:
mainly hollowing out the U.S. military presence in
Europe; moving to a reliance on economic, diplomatic
and intelligence operations rather than military involvement in the Middle East and South Asia36; and
revising the scheme for deterrence in Northeast Asia.
This shift will not enable all of the ambitious accomplishments that policymakers have sought in recent
times, but it is a level of activism in line with properly
restrained ambition.37

Layne agrees that Americas comparative strategic advantages rest on naval and air power, not on
sending land armies to fight ground wars in Eurasia,
and therefore The United States must avoid future
large-scale nation-building exercises like those in Iraq
and Afghanistan and refrain from fighting wars for
the purpose of attaining regime change.38
Gordon Adams and Matthew Leatherman go into
further detail and make specific recommendations on
how to cut the defense budget:
Eliminating counterinsurgency, stabilization, and
nation building as first-order tasks would allow for
cuts in the number of ground forces. In particular,
the buildup in ground troops that President George
W. Bush announced in his 2007 State of the Union

241

addressan addition of 92,000 Soldiers and Marines

for operations in Afghanistan and Iraqcould be reversed. Moreover, a revised assessment of U.S. needs
in terms of nuclear deterrence and conventional warfare would allow for an additional drawdown of permanently stationed U.S. forces. In Europe, where the
chances of a military conflict continue to decrease
and where military planners are consequently reducing and restructuring their forcesthe U.S. presence
could shrink by 50,000, from approximately 70,000
down to 20,000 troops. Deployments in Asia could be
halved, from 60,000 to 30,000, to refocus U.S. presence
in the region on its comparative advantage: strategic
nuclear deterrence and naval operations. These changes would also rebalance U.S. permanent deployments
overseas toward Asia, where war, although still very
unlikely, is more possible than in Europe.39

Renewal: The United States should continue to invest

in maintaining its military hegemony and presence worldwide, and across the spectrum of conflict.
Given Americas large military advantage against
any potential competitors, U.S. superiority at least
in the near future is not a matter of debate. The big
debate, rather, focuses on whether the United States
should maintain the expensive military requirements
of the present grand strategy or whether it should
focus on a narrower set of scenarios. Particular controversy revolves around cutting the size of the land
forces by the 92,000 troops added by the Bush administration, shifting away from investing in irregular/
counterinsurgency Landpower capabilities in favor of
relying on drone strikes and special operations forces,
and the geographical pivot from the Middle East to
East Asia. Many proponents of Renewal have been
critical of these moves toward Retrenchment made by
the Obama administration in the past 2 years.
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A joint report by three prominent hawkish think

tanks recently provide a comprehensive list of the
military requirements embedded in the current
grand strategy:
Americas military must be able to fulfill a wide range
of disparate missions: defending the homeland; assuring access to the seas, in the air, in space and now in
cyberspace; preserving the peace in Europe, working to build a peace across the greater Middle East
and preparing for the rise of new great powers in the
Asia-Pacific. The United States has always seen an interest in advancing a global common good through
disaster relief and other forms of humanitarian assistance. . . . The primary purpose of the U.S. military
is to defend the homeland and, when required, fight
and win wars to protect our security interests. American military strength also deters enemies, shapes and
influences would-be aggressors, and serves as a comforting signal of security and support to friends and
allies around the world. The benefits America enjoys
as the worlds sole superpower flow from preserving
that strength.40

A reduction in the military missions the United

States should prepare for in order to save on defense
spending poses six unwanted risks for the United
States, according to Peter Feaver:
1. The risk that Americas European allies will not
adequately carry the burdens that the United States is
shifting to their shoulders;
2. The risk that adversaries will exploit a crisis because they believe that a less-capable United States is
tied down in one theater;
3. The risk that the United States will require large
stabilization forces even though the strategy assumes
it will not. In the past, U.S. leaders have often guessed

243

wrong about the kinds of forces they need for the next
conflict and found the military ill-prepared, lacking
the very capabilities it had even a few years before the
conflict;
4. The risk that Iraq, Afghanistan, or Pakistan will
unravel in ways that even a United States determined
to end the wars will not be able to ignore, thus requiring a recommitment of larger resourcesand that
those resources will not be available because of deep
defense cuts;
5. The risk that an under-resourced pivot will provoke China into an arms race that U.S. defense cuts
would make harder to win because of foregone defense investments; and,
6. The risk that the United States will lack the political will to fight in the cheaper-but-dumber mode
that defense cuts will require.41
In recent years, a new debate is also taking place on
ways to fight the war on terror, the most direct threat
to the American homeland. Both Retrenchment and
Renewal advocates believe their grand strategy is best
suited to address the question of how to fight against
terrorism. Robert Pape argued that U.S. military presence in the Middle East and the Muslim world is key
to inciting terrorists, and therefore a retreat from that
region should greatly alleviate the problem. The Renewal advocates, on the contrary, believe that only
by working closely with local partners, maintaining
a military presence to train them and, when needed,
fight side-by-side allied governments (particularly in
Afghanistan) is the right approach and that relying
solely on offshore firepower will not work.42

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American Exceptionalism and American Values.

Retrenchment: The United States should move away
from the emphasis on the spread of political-economic liberal values based on a belief in American exceptionalism, and
instead act in accordance with a narrower view of national
interest.
Another disagreement between proponents of Retrenchment and those who favor a Renewal of the current grand strategic course is the issue of the traditional
American role in the global promotion of democracy
and human rights. Most advocates of Retrenchment
find such pursuits at best nonessential nice to have
goals when they can be achieved on the cheap, and,
at worst, counterproductive to national security and
leading to a waste of precious resources in ill-fated
nation-building adventures. Such a belief in the
importance of spreading American values is blamed
for encouraging Washington policymakers of both
parties to engage in unnecessary prolonged counterinsurgency campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, and
in general to adopt an expensive view of U.S. interests which cannot discriminate between what must be
considered proper national security interests vs. peripheral concerns.
Even though an idealist influence has been present
in American grand strategy since the foundation of
the Republic,43 Retrenchment advocate Stephen Walt
argues that this American exceptionalism is a myth
that we should move away from:
Most statements of American exceptionalism presume that Americas values, political system, and history are unique and worthy of universal admiration.

245

They also imply that the United States is both destined

and entitled to play a distinct and positive role on the
world stage. The only thing wrong with this self-congratulatory portrait of Americas global role is that it is
mostly a myth. . . . U.S. foreign policy would probably
be more effective if Americans were less convinced of
their own unique virtues and less eager to proclaim
them.44

John Mearsheimer is even more blunt, and he criticizes as imperial the current grand strategy followed
by Bill Clinton, Bush, and Obama alike: Washington
should also get out of the business of trying to spread
democracy around the globe, and more generally acting as if we have the right and the responsibility to
interfere in the domestic politics of other countries.45
Renewal: The United States should continue its unique
role as a strong promoter of democracy and free markets,
as well as its role as a defender against grave human rights
abuses.
Proponents of Renewal believe that spreading
American values is not only the right thing to do, but
also it is a core U.S. national security interestan open
international system is both more peaceful and more
prosperous. They also believe the United States is at
its best when it leads the international community to
prevent genocide and other brutal human rights abuses. Republican and Democratic grand strategists alike
embrace this principle. As Anne-Marie Slaughter notices approvingly, the promotion of American values
has been considered an enduring U.S. national interest by all previous post-Cold War administrations:

246

all national security strategies over the past 2 decades

have assumed that the spread of universal values is
not only normatively desirable as a matter of human
freedom and dignity but also instrumentally important for U.S. security. They assume that a world in
which every human being is free to speak and worship and free from fear and want would be a much
safer and more prosperous world, and a better place
for Americans.46

CONCLUSIONS
For the first time since the end of the Cold War,
or some would say since the end of World War II,
there is a serious debate about changing the scope
of Americas grand strategy. The idea of Americas
global preeminence, long taken for granted, is now
under debate in government and scholarly circles.
Even though bureaucratic inertia remains a powerful force and dramatic grand strategic shifts are very
hard to implement, this may indeed be one of those
inflexion points where such a big shift could occur. If
political leaders will impose an era of austerity on the
resources available for defense and foreign affairs, the
United States might fall into a strategy of Retrenchment through the back door by virtue of a reduction
in military resources that will gradually force future
leaders to adopt less and less ambitious objectives.
The advocates of Retrenchment would welcome this
change because it is what they have argued for decades, while the advocates of Renewal would deplore
it. One thing that should be clear is that it is highly
unlikely that the United States could maintain its current global primacy with a significant reduction in the
amount of money it is willing to spend on its military,
no matter how brilliant its U.S. defense planners and

247

how skillful its diplomats.47 Choosing a middle path

of maintaining expensive objectives but underfunding
them, while tempting for policymakers, is probably a
worse outcome than either choosing Retrenchment
or Renewal, two grand strategies that are at least coherent in their own internal logic. Such an approach
could lead to launching military interventions on the
cheap, usually a recipe for much larger costs than initially expected, or strategic failure, or both. 48
This literature review focused on big picture,
grand strategic differences between the Retrenchment
and Renewal advocates. Based on these differences in
their understanding of the internal and external constraints on the United States, and on the proper vision
for the United States going forward, the adherents of
each group unsurprisingly arrive at different tactical
recommendations on a large number of specific policy
dilemmas. These principles provide plenty of hints on
how the advocates of each strategy would approach
current and future problems. Having said that, different members of each camp sometimes have idiosyncratic approaches toward one policy or another,
depending on the issue, which is one reason why this
chapter did not dwell on specific hot policy debates
such as what (else) to do about Irans nuclear program,
whether to intervene in Syria, and, if so, how, or the
endgame in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.
The two groups also differ on the desirability of
maintaining U.S. troops in Europe. One of the most
common arguments of offshore balancer proponents is that the United States should shift more responsibility for maintaining a peaceful liberal world
order and regional stability to its rich allies like Europe,
Japan, or South Korea. On this issue, as on a number of
other policies, the end of maintaining regional peace

248

and stability is, of course, shared by advocates of both

schools, but they differ on the most economical way
to do this. Retrenchment advocates would bet that the
U.S. allies will pick up the slack if the United States
draws down, and do so in a way that would not lead
to outcomes the United States would not want to have
happened, such as an increase in nuclear weapons
proliferation and regional arms races. The advocates
of Renewal disagree that this is a risk the United States
should take. Such bets on second-order questions
about how the world works cause advocates of the
two schools to advocate different policies, even when
the final ends they seek are rather similar.49
The only current policy debate with long-term implications broad enough to warrant inclusion in this
grand strategy analysis was the question of defense
spending. That is so because its answer will determine
what the United States will be able to do in any number of future policy dilemmas, some quite predictable, and some entirely unpredictable at this point.
The size and shape of the future military, however,
is much more predictable because it takes years, and
even decades, to change force structure both in terms
of people and especially capital weapon systems and
platforms. Even though this is a debate about means
and not ends, in the policy world, major shifts at the
grand strategic level such as those proposed by academic scholars are rarely possiblethe way grand
strategic change occurs more frequently is through
a series of decisions on resources which can induce
future leaders to adapt their objectives to the newly
constrained means. This is why the current defense
spending debate could turn out to be of much more
significance for the future of American grand strategy
than it is often recognized.

249

ENDNOTES - CHAPTER 6
1. For some early reviews of Obamas grand strategy, see Daniel W. Drezner, Does Obama Have A Grand Strategy? Foreign
Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 4, 2011, pp. 57-68; Martin S. Indyk, Kenneth
G. Lieberthal, and Michael E. OHanlon, Scoring Obamas Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 91, No. 3, 2012, pp. 29-43; G. John
Ikenberry, The Right Grand Strategy, The American Interest, January/February 2010. Among the most important grand strategic
pronouncements of the administration, see the White House National Security Strategy, Washington, DC: The White House, May
2010; Hillary Clinton, Americas Pacific Century, Foreign Policy,
November 2011; Department of Defense (DoD), Sustaining U.S.
Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century, Washington, DC: DoD,
January 2012.
2. Barry R. Posen and Andrew L. Ross, Competing Visions
for U.S. Grand Strategy, International Security, Vol. 21, No. 3,
Winter 1996-97, pp. 5-53; Robert J. Art, A Grand Strategy for America, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2003.
3. Barry Posen, A Grand Strategy of Restraint, Peter Feaver, American Grand Strategy at the Crossroads: Leading From
the Front, Leading from Behind, or Not Leading at All? Finding
Americas Path, Washington, DC: Center for a New American Security (CNAS), 2012; Christopher Layne, From Preponderance to
Offshore Balancing, International Security, Vol. 22, No. 1, Summer
1997, pp. 112-124;
4. Among the more prominent proponents of a Retrenchment grand strategy, broadly defined, see Barry Posen, The
Case for Restraint, Michelle Flournoy and Shawn Brimley, ed.,
Finding our Way: Debating American Grand Strategy, Washington,
DC: CNAS, 2008; Michael Mandelbaum, The Frugal Superpower:
Americas Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era, New York: Public Affairs Press, 2010; John J. Mearsheimer, Imperial by Design,
The National Interest, January/February 2011, pp. 16-34; Stephen
Walt, Taming American Power: The Global Response to U.S. Primacy,
New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005; Christopher Layne,
The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the
Present, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2006; Stephen Van
Evera and Sidharth Shah, eds., The Prudent Use of Power in Ameri-

250

can National Security Strategy, Cambridge, MA: The Tobin Project,

2010; Richard K. Betts, A Disciplined Defense: How to Regain
Strategic Solvency, Foreign Affairs, November/December 2007;
and American Strategy: Grand vs. Grandiose in Americas Path,
Washington, DC: CNAS, 2012; Leslie H. Gelb, Necessity, Choice,
And Common Sense, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 88, No. 3, 2009, pp. 5672; Charles Kupchan, No Ones World: The West, the Rising Rest,
and the Coming Global Turn, New York: Oxford University Press,
2012; and Grand Strategy: The Four Pillars of the Future Foreign
Affairs, Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Winter, 2012; Bruce Jentleson, Accepting Limits, How to Adapt to a Copernican World,
Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Winter 2012; Bruce Jentleson and Steven Weber, The End of Arrogance: America in the Global Competition
of Ideas, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010; Richard Haass, Bringing Our Foreign Policy Home, Time, August
8, 2011; Robert Art, A Grand Strategy for America, and Selective
Engagement in the Era of Austerity, Americas Path, Washington,
DC: CNAS 2012; Joseph M. Parent and Paul K. MacDonald, The
Wisdom of Retrenchment, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 6, 2011,
pp. 32-47; Patrick Cronin, Restraint: Recalibrating American Grand
Strategy, Washington, DC: CNAS, June 2010.
5. Among the more prominent recent proponents of a Renewal grand strategy, broadly defined, see Robert Kagan, The Price
of Power: The Benefits of U.S. Defense Spending Far Outweigh
the Costs, The Weekly Standard, January 24, 2011, p. 28; Charles
Krauthammer, Decline is a Choice, The Weekly Standard, October 9, 2009; Robert J. Lieber, Power and Willpower in the American
Future: Why the United States Is Not Destined to Decline, Cambridge,
MA: Cambridge University Press, 2012; Feaver, American Grand
Strategy at the Crossroads; Eric Edelman, Understanding Americas Contested Primacy, Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and
Budgetary Assessments, 2010; Fred Kagan, Grand Strategy for
the United States, Finding our Way: Debating American Grand
Strategy, Washington, DC: CNAS, 2008; Anne-Marie Slaughter,
A Grand Strategy of Network Centrality, Americas Path; Joseph
S. Nye, The Future Of American Power, Foreign Affairs, Vol.
89, No. 6, 2010; John Ikenberry, Liberal Leviathan: The Origins, Crisis, and Transformation of the American World Order, Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 2011.
6. Mandelbaum, p. 10.

251

7. Haass.
8. Kupchan.
9. Mr. Y, A National Strategic Narrative, Washington, DC:
The Woodrow Wilson Center, 2011, p. 2.
10. Fareed Zakaria, Why Defense Spending Should Be Cut,
Washington Post, August 3, 2011.
11. Charles Krauthammer, Decline is a Choice, Weekly
Standard, October 9, 2009.
12. Lieber, p. 5.
13. Ibid., p. 4.
14. Thomas Donnelly, We Can Afford to Spend More, and
We Need To, The New York Times, September 9, 2012. For similar
arguments, see Max Boot, Cutting Defense Spending Could Hasten Americas Decline as a World Power, Commentary, August
8, 2011; Gary Schmitt and Thomas Donnelly, The Big Squeeze,
The Weekly Standard, June 7, 2010; Defending Defense: Setting the Record Straight on U.S. Military Spending Requirements, Foreign Policy
Initiative (FPI), Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute
(AEI), The Heritage Foundation, October 2010. For charts making the case against defense spending by showing how it is much
smaller than other government spending and how future trends
predict entitlement spending to be the major problem to U.S. fiscal solvency, see Alison Acosta Fraser, Federal Spending by the
Numbers, Washington, DC: The Heritage Foundation, available
from www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/10/federal-spending-bythe-numbers-2012.
15. Robert Kagan, The Price of Power: The Benefits of U.S.
Defense Spending Far Outweigh the Costs, The Weekly Standard,
January 24, 2011, p. 28.
16. Ibid., p. 33.

252

17. Gelb, Necessity, Choice, and Common Sense,pp. 56-72.

18. For more on the theme of American decline, see Parag
Khanna, The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global
Order, New York: Random House, 2008; Kishore Mahbubani, The
New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the
East, New York: Public Affairs, 2008; National Intelligence Council, Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World, Washington, DC: U.S.
Government Printing Office, November 2008; Fareed Zakaria, The
Post-American World, New York: W. W. Norton, 2008; Christopher
Layne, The Waning of U.S. HegemonyMyth or Reality? International Security, Vol. 34, No. 1, Summer 2009, pp. 147172; Ian
Bremmer, and Nouriel Roubini, A G-Zero World, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 2, 2011, pp. 2-7; Leslie H. Gelb, GDP Now Matters More Than Force, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 89, No. 6, 2010, pp. 3543; Nancy Birdsall and Francis Fukuyama, The Post-Washington
Consensus, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 2, 2011; Simon Serfaty,
Moving into a Post-Western World, The Washington Quarterly,
Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 7-23; Paul Kennedy, American Power is on
the Wane, The Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2009; Francis Fukuyama, The Fall of America, Inc., Newsweek, October 13, 2008;
Fareed Zakaria, Are Americas Best Days Behind Us?, Time,
March 3, 2011; Andrew Bacevich, American Triumphalism: A
Post-Mortem, Commonweal, January 26, 2009; Paul Starobin, After America: Narratives for the Next Global Age, New York: Viking
Penguin, 2009, p. 6; Robert A. Pape, Empire Falls, The National
Interest, January/February 2009, pp. 2123; Edward Luce, Time to
Start Thinking: American in the Age of Descent, New York: Atlantic
Monthly Press, 2012.
19. Gideon Rachman, American Decline: This Time is For
Real, Foreign Policy, January/February 2011.
20. Christopher Layne, The (Almost) Triumph of Offshore
Balancing, The National Interest, Online Commentary, January
21, 2012.
21. Ibid.
22. Jentleson, Accepting Limits.
23. Art, Selective Engagement in the Era of Austerity.

253

24. Parent and MacDonald, The Wisdom of Retrenchment.

25. Some of the recent works making the case against American decline include Stephen G. Brooks and William C. Wohlforth,
World Out of Balance: International Relations and the Challenge of
American Primacy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008;
Josef Joffe, The Default Power, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 88, No. 5,
2009, pp. 21-35; Anne-Marie Slaughter, Americas Edge: Power
In The Networked Century, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 88, No. 1, 2009;
Eric Edelman, Understanding Americas Contested Primacy, Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments,
2010; Joseph S. Nye, The Future Of American Power. Foreign Affairs, Vol. 89, No. 6, 2010, pp. 2-12; Robert J. Lieber, Power and Willpower in the American Future: Why the United States Is Not Destined
to Decline, Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2012;
Charles Krauthammer, Decline is a Choice, The Weekly Standard,
October 19, 2009; Robert Kagan, Not Fade Away: Against the
Myth of American Decline, The New Republic, January 17, 2012.
26. Edelman, Understanding Americas Contested Primacy,
p. xvii.
27. Ibid., p. xix.
28. Brooks and Wohlforth, World Out of Balance, p. 13.
29. See Minxin Pei, Think Again: Asias Rise, Foreign Policy,
July/August 2009; Arvind Subramanian, The Inevitable Superpower, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 5, 2011, pp. 66-78; Derek Scissors, The Wobbly Dragon, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 91, No. 1, 2012,
pp. 173-177; Salvatore Babones, The Middling Kingdom, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 5, 2011, pp. 79-88; Wang Jisi, Chinas
Search For A Grand Strategy. Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 2, 2011,
pp. 68-79.
30. Numbers available from www.heritage.org/research/
reports/2011/04/the-united-states-vs-china-which-economy-is-biggerwhich-is-better#_ftn4.
31. Joffe, The Default Power.

254

32. Ibid.
33. Ikenberry, Liberal Leviathan, pp. 348-349. For more on this,
see also Forging a World of Liberty Under Law: U.S. National
Security in the 21st Century, The Final Report of the Princeton
Project on National Security, Princeton, NJ: Woodrow Wilson
School of International Affairs, 2006; John G. Ikenberry, The Future Of The Liberal World Order, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 3,
2011, pp. 56-68.
34. Slaughter, A Grand Strategy of Network Centrality,
p. 46. See also Anne-Marie Slaughter, Americas Edge: Power
In The Networked Century, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 88, No. 1, 2009.
35. For the most detailed account of how to achieve military
retrenchement across all services, see Christopher Preble, The
Power Problem: How American Military Dominance Makes Us Less
Safe, Less Prosperous, and Less Free, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University
Press, 2009.
36. For a recent analysis of the possible impact of a U.S. military withdrawal from the Middle East, see the chapters by Daniel
Byman and F. Gregory Gause in The Prudent Use of Power.
37. Betts, American Strategy: Grand vs. Grandiose, p. 37.
38. Layne, The (Almost) Triumph of Offshore Balancing.
39. Gordon Adams and Matthew Leatherman, A Leaner And
Meaner Defense, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 90, No. 1, 2011, pp. 139-152.
40. AEI, Heritage Foundation, and FPI, Defending Defense, 2010.
41. Feaver, Americas Path, p. 65.
42. For a careful assessment of U.S. counterterrorism efforts
and grand strategic concerns, see Audrey Kurth Cronin, U.S.
Grand Strategy and Counterterrorism, Orbis, Vol. 56, No. 2,
Spring 2012.
43. Walter Russell Mead, Special Providence: American Foreign
Policy and How It Changed the World, New York: Routledge, 2002.

255

44. Stephen Walt, The Myth of American Exceptionalism,

Foreign Policy, November 2011.
45. Mearsheimer, Imperial by Design, p. 31.
46. Slaughter, A Grand Strategy of Network Centrality, p. 57.
47. For more on this point, see Andrew Krepinevich, Simon
Chin, and Todd Harrison, Strategy in Austerity, Washington, DC:
Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, 2012.
48. Colin Dueck, Reluctant Crusaders: Power, Culture, and
Change in American Grand Strategy, Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 2006.
49. Peter Feaver and Hal Brands, unpublished manuscript.
Another examples of these bets would be: Can the United States
pivot from one region to another, or do losses in one region
undermine gains in another? Is the United States more threatened
by a strong or weak China? Is the liberal world order and the benefits it confers to the U.S. sustainable without predominant U.S.
military power?

256

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

ELEANORE DOUGLAS is currently at the LBJ School
of Public Affairs after serving several years as a defense consultant in Washington, DC. She has most
recently contributed to a published assessment of the
Depaartment of Defense organizational transformation initiatives during the George W. Bush administration. Her research interests include international
security, intelligence policy, defense strategy and
policy. Ms. Douglas holds a masters degree in intelligence and international security from the Department
of War Studies, Kings College, University of London.
PETER FEAVER is a Professor of Political Science and
Public Policy at Duke University. He is Director of
the Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS) and
also Director of the Duke Program in American Grand
Strategy (AGS). From June 2005 to July 2007, he was
Special Advisor for Strategic Planning and Institutional Reform on the National Security Council Staff at the
White House, where his responsibilities included the
national security strategy, regional strategy reviews,
and other political-military issues. Dr. Feaver is the
author of Armed Servants: Agency, Oversight, and CivilMilitary Relations (Harvard Press, 2003) and of Guarding the Guardians: Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons
in the United States (Cornell University Press, 1992),
along with several other books. Dr. Feaver holds a
Ph.D. from Harvard University.
FRANCIS J. GAVIN is first Frank Stanton Chair in
Nuclear Security Policy studies and Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-

257

ogy (MIT). Before joining MIT, he was the Tom Slick

Professor of International Affairs and the Director of
the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security
and Law at the University of Texas. From 2005 until
2010, he directed The American Assemblys multiyear national initiative, The Next Generation Project:
U.S. Global Policy and the Future of International Institutions. Dr. Gavin has been a National Security Fellow at Harvards Olin Institute for Strategic Studies,
an International Security Fellow at Harvards Kennedy School of Government, a Research Fellow at the
Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of
Virginia, a Smith Richardson Junior Faculty Fellow
in international Security and Foreign Policy, a Donald D. Harrington Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the
University of Texas, a Senior Research Fellow at the
Nobel Institute, and an Aspen Ideas Festival Scholar.
He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Gavin is the author of Gold, Dollars, and
Power: The Politics of International Monetary Relations,
1958-1971 (University of North Carolina Press, 2004)
and Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in Americas
Atomic Age (Cornell University Press, 2012). Dr. Gavin
holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University
of Chicago, a Master of Studies in modern European
history from Oxford University, and an M.A. and a
Ph.D. in diplomatic history from the University of
Pennsylvania.
WILLIAM INBODEN is Executive Director of the
William P. Clements, Jr., Center for History, Strategy,
and Statecraft at the University of Texas-Austin. He
also serves as Associate Professor at the LBJ School of
Public Affairs and Distinguished Scholar at the Robert
S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law.
He also worked at the Department of State as a Mem258

ber of the Policy Planning Staff and a Special Advisor

in the Office of International Religious Freedom, and
has worked as a staff member in both the United States
Senate and the House of Representatives. His current
research includes working on a history of the National
Security Council. Dr. Imboden is the author of Religion
and American Foreign Policy, 1945-1960: The Soul of Containment (Cambridge University Press, 2008), as well
as numerous articles and book chapters. Dr. Inboden
holds an A.B. from Stanford University, and an M.A.
and Ph.D. in history from Yale University.
CHARLES MILLERs areas of regional interest include
China, the United States, and Australia. His research
interests include military effectiveness, public opinion
and foreign policy, and rational decisionmaking in
strategic affairs. Dr. Miller is the author of such publications as Endgame for the West in Afghanistan (2010),
an exploration of the causes of the decline in support
for the Afghan mission in Australia, the United States,
France, Germany, Canada, and the United Kingdom,
and The Political Science of Retrenchment (2013), an outline of what political science and defense economics
can teach policymakers about when and how to carry
out retrenchment in defense spending, both produced
through the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S.
Army War College. Dr. Miller holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Cambridge, an M.A.
from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in political science from Duke University.
BRIAN MUZAS is Assistant Professor of Diplomacy
and International Relations at Seton Hall University.
His Ph.D. dissertation focused on the role of religious
cultural heritage in shaping nuclear policy decisions.

259

Dr. Muzas holds a Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Texas.
IONUT C. POPESCU is an Assistant Professor in the
Robertson School of Government at Regent University. His research focuses on U.S. foreign policy and
national security strategy, security studies, and international relations. He was the Duke American Grand
Strategy Program Fellow. He worked for the Center
for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. Dr. Popescu has written articles appearing
in such journals as Orbis, Armed Forces Journal, Joint
Force Quarterly, and Contemporary Security Policy. Dr.
Popescu graduated Summa cum Laude from Occidental College with a B.A. in diplomacy and world affairs,
and holds a Ph.D. in international relations from Duke
University. His dissertation examined the interplay
of design and emergence in the making of American
Grand Strategy in several strategic eras in U.S. history.
MEGAN REISS holds a Graduate Fellowship at the
William P. Clements Center for History, Strategy, and
Statecraft. She worked as a researcher at the Hoover Institution and for the Stanford Preventive Force Group,
focusing on security, foreign policy, and international
law. Ms. Reiss holds a B.A. from Stanford University
and an LLM from the University of Nottingham, her
thesis focused on the ability of regional organizations
to work within and outside the legal framework of a
Security Council mandate. She is a Ph.D. student in
public policy at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin, where
she studies the role of presidential decisionmaking in
nuclear proliferation policy.

260

JEREMI SURI is the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair

for Leadership in Global Affairs at the University of
Texas at Austin. He is a professor in the Universitys
Department of History and the Lyndon B. Johnson
School of Public Affairs. His research and teaching
have received numerous prizes. In 2007, Smithsonian
Magazine named him one of Americas Top Young
Innovators in the Arts and Sciences. He is also a
frequent public lecturer and guest on radio and television programs. Professor Suri is the author of five
bookson contemporary politics and foreign policy,
and his most recent book is Libertys Surest Guardian:
American Nation-Building from the Founders to Obama
(September 2011), which analyzes the past and future
of nation-building. His writings appear widely in
blogs and print media.

261

U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE

Major General William E. Rapp
Commandant
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STRATEGIC STUDIES INSTITUTE
and
THE U.S. ARMY WAR COLLEGE PRESS
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Professor Douglas C. Lovelace, Jr.
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Dr. Steven K. Metz
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